Kimberley Centre care institution a 'hellhole' for disabled girl Irene Priest

7:21 pm on 11 July 2022

Warning: This story contains details of abuse that some readers may find disturbing

The sister of a disabled woman has described the state care institution her younger sibling lived in for decades as a "hellhole" and her devastation on learning of the physical abuse and neglect her sister suffered.

Photo: 123RF

Irene Priest suffered brain damage at birth and at the age of six was placed at the Kimberley Centre in Levin where she lived until she was 48, when the centre closed in 2004.

There, she was made a ward of the state.

Sitting next to Irene, who is mute, her sister Margaret Priest was the first of 23 survivors or their whānau to speak at a public hearing in Auckland that is examining the use of control and restraint and resulting abuse in disability and mental health care.

"There was no other place for Irene to go except Kimberley and for that she had to be made a ward of the state. My parents trusted the state to care for Irene. It did not.

"I know she was abused in many ways. I also know she would have been abused in ways I did not know. Medical staff knew of the abuse, this did not stop the abuse."

Asked to describe Kimberley Centre, Priest said: "It was just one word, hellhole. She went backwards and she was unhappy... she had nothing, not even happiness, not a joy of food, no love, no decent medical care and [she was] abused."

Priest said 30 years of her sister's medical records were missing, leaving just the years following 1990 on record.

But she said her sister was drugged in care, had all her teeth pulled and became underweight, suffered numerous physical injuries and restraints that were documented.

"She lost around 20 years of her life, there was no quality of life for her at that time."

Priest stroked her sister's back as she talked, explaining she was not sure how much Irene understood but that it was obvious when she was unhappy or happy.

She said her parents were loathe to make a complaint to Kimberley's management, for fear of reprisals against Irene.

Leaving Kimberley in 2004, Irene went to live in a NZ Care home with six bedrooms.

Priest said she felt relieved her sister could live in a household where the residents were cooked meals and had a homely lounge with carpet.

But in 2013 and again the following year, she found out caregivers were physically abusing her sister, leaving her with bruises on her wrists and carpet burn.

"I would've expected that at some stage in Irene's life someone or maybe a lot of people many times should have said sorry," she said.

"That has not happened at any stage of Irene's life or of mine. I has been inordinately difficult for our family to heal without an apology."

The hearing

The Inquiry into Abuse in Care said abuse in state care of disabled, deaf and people who suffered mental distress was overt and systemic.

Lead Counsel assisting the commission, Ruth Thomas, said the survivors would talk about medical, psychological and sexual abuse suffered in state care.

The survivors will talk about their time in the Kimberley Centre in Levin, Templeton Centre, near Christchurch, Porirua Hospital, Tokanui Hospital, near Te Awamutu, Kelston Deaf Education Centre/van Asch Deaf Education Centre in Auckland, Homai School, and Carrington, Kingseat and Māngere Hospitals in Auckland.

In her opening remarks at the hearing, Thomas said the stories were just the tip of the iceberg because many did not survive and are buried in unmarked graves near the institutions they lived in.

"It is important for the Royal Commission to understand and for the public of Aotearoa New Zealand to understand that we as a nation intentionally placed thousands of disabled children, and adults and children and adults experiencing mental distress, into large psychopaedic and psychiatric institutions."

She said the psychopaedic institutions were unique to New Zealand - it was where the state housed those with learning disabilities.

People First provides services for those with learning disabilities and its president Kris Roguski were at the hearing to stand alongside those giving their testimony.

"We are speaking today because we want to make sure we are not forgotten about in this inquiry. We are aware that only a few people with learning disabilities have told their story but we know many thousands experienced living in an institution and its effects."

Thomas said the length of time some people spent in such state care is a unique part of the evidence that has been gathered for the hearing.

''Particularly people with learning disabilities who were placed in psychopaedic institutions. Some of them remained there for decades and decades of their lives, so we have gathered evidence for people who spent 40-plus years at Kimberley, or 40-plus years at Templeton."

Part of dark history

Commissioner Paul Gibson said it was a part of the country's dark history that needed to come to light.

"Many of these stories have been lost in the last few generations but now is the opportunity they will come forward and there's a chance for Aotearoa New Zealand to hear and learn and listen and make changes to make sure what we've heard never happens again."

Crown Secretariat Gregor Allan said they are listening.

"For too long the violence and abuse has remained invisible but not to those of you who experience it," he said.

"The Crown is here to listen so as to identify the lessons learned and to make good on our commitments to address them."

Calls for change

Priest told the hearing that change was needed, even now.

"Nothing will ever change what has happened to Irene. The only acceptable form of apology will be the changes that must be established, monitored and continually improved so that such abuse never occurs again."

She called for those with disabilities to be safeguarded in state care.

"Irene has me to look after her, the other residents did not and they don't in other houses either and we must never leave these people without an advocate," she said.

Priest also urged the government to oversee the caregiver sector, ensuring adequate training and remuneration across the board rather than leaving it to the private sector.

She said Irene's situation had long lasting effects.

"The neglect and the lack of love, which I keep coming back to, has made her less trusting of people," Priest said.

"Irene used to be very warm and cuddly and that's going to take time ... we're getting there but it's not where it was. She lost her trust in people. I think she existed, and how she existed I have no idea."

Priest said Irene was happy now, living in a NZ Care home.

"In her current home where she receives the level of care that is her right, she is very happy. I weep for the fact that for 44 years she did not enjoy this right and the pain it has caused her, my parents and me."