Outed abuser quits child safety group

By JOSIE CLARKE social issues reporter

The great-uncle of slain toddler James Whakaruru has agreed to withdraw from a campaign against child abuse while he addresses his own background as an abuser.

And TVNZ newsreader Liz Gunn, who runs the Children First Foundation campaign with former All Black Michael Jones, has apologised for comments she made blaming the allegations of abuse against Rangi Whakaruru as part of a "squabble" within the family.

Gunn and Jones spent most of yesterday with Mr Whakaruru, discussing his future with the foundation.

"It was intense and draining, but very productive," Gunn said. "He realises he has to focus on sorting out his own issues ... "

The three formed the Children First Foundation last year. It is a non-profit group which develops advertising campaigns aimed at reducing child abuse.

TVNZ has donated air time for the advertisements.

But after a request from the foundation on Wednesday, it took off the air an advertisement featuring Mr Whakaruru pleading for an end to child abuse.

The request was made after Mr Whakaruru admitted that he had beaten his stepdaughter, Jamila Dlala, her mother and other members of his family.

He revealed that he had also been abused and had received counselling for his violence problem.



His great-nephew James Whakaruru was beaten to death at the age of 4 by his stepfather and has become a symbol of the anti-child abuse campaign.

Gunn said any involvement by Mr Whakaruru in the campaign was further down the track, once he had healed his own life.

TVNZ remained "steadfastly loyal" to the campaign, she said, and two ads featuring her and Jones would continue to play.

Mr Whakaruru said the meeting had been positive, and the campaign would move on.

"I have said all along that this campaign is bigger than me, it is bigger than this incident. My commitment is the same now as it was then, and if they would like me to do something for it, I am certainly available."

Ms Dlala said last night through a friend, Vlad Purgaric, that she was delighted with Mr Whakaruru's decision, which was all she needed.

But on TV3 she said she was not happy with Gunn's comments in yesterday's Herald that she was trying to publicly humiliate her stepfather and that the allegations were part of a major family squabble.

Ms Dlala said she had met Gunn and Jones after contacting the Commissioner for Children, Roger McClay. Jones had been sympathetic but Gunn had taken a different approach.

"She said to me that if I went to the media, she worked in the media and she knew how the media worked and that I could be made to look revengeful and that karma would come back to me and my family."

Late yesterday, Gunn apologised for her comment that Ms Dlala's allegations were part of a squabble.

"I unreservedly apologise to Jamila and any other women who may have felt that my comment belittled women who had been abused.

"I never intended that."

The family of Mr Whakaruru said yesterday that they tried to stop him fronting the anti-child-abuse TV campaign, but his brother Enoka said he was too pig-headed.

Enoka Whakaruru, the maternal grandfather of James Whakaruru, said yesterday that he was glad his brother's violent past had been revealed.

"I am really glad it happened to him now. It would have to stop him in his tracks. He was going too fast for us. He was pig-headed. We tried to persuade him [not to go ahead] ... because he's got a big mouth."

Rangi Whakaruru said he had told the foundation about his past, and had been prepared to admit it on the advertisement if asked.

But Enoka Whakaruru said that at a meeting he attended with Gunn, he and his brother were open about the abuse their father subjected them to, but nothing was said about Rangi Whakaruru's own violence to his family.

Women's Refuge chief executive Merepeka Raukawa-Tait said victims of violence would find an ad campaign featuring a self-confessed wife basher and child abuser hard to stomach.

Mr Whakaruru had an obvious credibility problem, she said.

"When people are pointing the finger at the messenger and not listening to the message, one would have to question what purpose that message serves."

She believed that abusive behaviour could be changed, but violence against children was a sensitive issue in New Zealand.

"People who have been the victims are going to have great difficulty stomaching the message from someone they know has been an abuser, especially if they have suffered at that person's hands."

Commissioner for Children Roger McClay said the ad should be withdrawn. "Every time it is shown, it will make people say, 'It's all a load of rubbish. We know what he's been up to'."

Mr McClay said the foundation had been let down by Rangi Whakaruru, who should have volunteered details of his past.

But the man who counsels Mr Whakaruru, Peter Merrick, said he had no doubt his client was the right person to send an anti-violence message.

Speaking with Mr Whakaruru's permission, he said: "It's a difficult issue, I know that. But someone who has suffered will often go a long way to help just one other person, and that's the way I see Rangi Whakaruru."

Herald Online feature: Violence at home

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