Next stage agreed in 90-year-old's charges over alleged child abuse at Lake Alice

John Richard Corkran Photo / RNZ

By RNZ

A pre-trial hearing for a 90-year-old former Lake Alice psychiatric hospital worker accused of ill-treating children there in the 1970s will likely take place in November.

Lawyers in the John Richard Corkran case appeared briefly in the High Court at Wellington on Monday for an administrative hearing.

Corkran, from Marton, was not present, but has previously pleaded not guilty to eight charges and elected trial by jury when appearing in the Whanganui District Court. He is on bail.

The six named complainants were at Lake Alice's child and adolescent unit between 1974 and 1977. One charge related to an unidentified former patient.

It is alleged they were injected with drugs as punishment.

November's pre-trial hearing could take up to a week.

The ill-treatment charges have a maximum penalty of 10 years' jail.