Lake Alice survivor heads to court to challenge Government’s compensation scheme

Lake Alice Psychiatric Hospital. Photo / Public Domain

By Jimmy Ellingham of RNZ

A survivor of torture at the Lake Alice psychiatric hospital’s child and adolescent unit will go straight from cancer treatment to the courtroom to have the Government’s compensation scheme declared unlawful.

Malcolm Richards has filed a judicial review of the decision announced late last year that those tortured at the Rangitīkei unit in the 1970s could either take a $150,000 payment or head to arbitration.

Survivors subjected to electric shocks or paralysing paraldehyde injections were eligible.

The 65-year-old’s case will be heard in the High Court at Wellington on Tuesday and Richards will travel to the capital from his Hawke’s Bay home today, after a weekend recovering from radiation treatment.

He does not have to attend the hearing – his lawyer Chris Griggs will do the talking in court – but he said he wanted to watch in person.

Richards, who – along with Paul Zentveld – has won a case over Lake Alice before the United Nations committee against torture, said the Government’s offer breached New Zealand’s obligations under the UN Torture Convention.

The offer did not go far enough in compensating survivors and providing them with adequate rehabilitation, he said.

“I decided to take [the court case] because the Government expects us to obey the law and I expect the same with them, and they’re not obeying the law.”

The Government seemed to want to give survivors a handout in the hope they would go away, he said.

Richards said he did not have a specific number in mind for appropriate compensation and it would depend on what rehabilitative help was also offered.

“It’s not all about the money,” he said. “Rehab is a huge part of why I’m doing this, because there isn’t any.”

The judicial review will also hear a submission on behalf of those who also wish to continue with the Government’s redress scheme as an option, even if the court decided it was not adequate.

Richards spoke to RNZ last week from Palmerston North’s Ozanam House, where he and wife Sharon had stayed on weekdays for the past month, while Richards received treatment for prostate cancer.

He planned to rest this weekend to prepare for the court hearing and said, apart from tired spells, he did not feel too bad.

He was due for tests in three months.

Richards had battled ill health in recent years, undergoing a triple heart bypass last year.

Compounding his concern was mounting legal fees for his case, which he said sat at more than $50,000.

He had used his KiwiSaver, run a Givealittle appeal and taken out a loan, as well as using money from a separate case win to pay for the judicial review. If he did not succeed, he planned to appeal.

Richards said he had not considered taking the compensation on offer under the Government’s current scheme, partly because he received a letter from the arbiter for survivors choosing to negotiate settlements, for which the sum of money to be divided was limited.

“If somebody’s going to get more, then somebody’s going to get less. I can’t be a part of taking money off somebody else.”

So far, 141 people have been ruled eligible for the Lake Alice redress scheme, with 102 opting to receive the $150,000 payments. In total, 92 payments have been made, but 38 people have chosen to go to arbitration.

Applications for this closed on April 30 and independent arbiter Paul Davison, KC, has until the end of September to complete the process, before final payments are made by December 31.

One person has withdrawn from the scheme.

- RNZ