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Abuse in care: 'Cultural theft' left man not knowing he was Samoan until age 30

Wednesday, 28 July 2021

Survivors of abuse from the Pacific community will give evidence before the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care. (First published July, 2021)

A man raised in state care who didn’t know he was Samoan until he was 30 years old wants an apology and compensation from those who wronged him.

David Crichton was raised as David Mohi, a proud Māori. In 1997, he opened state files to learn his biological father was William James Crichton from Samoa, a man he’d never met.

Speaking to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care this week, Crichton said words could not explain the pain that had caused him, and now his children.

“I am covered in Māori tattoos because I believed that that was who I was,” David Crichton said. “If I had truly known of my Samoan cultural heritage I would likely be covered in Samoan tatau.”
“I am covered in Māori tattoos because I believed that that was who I was,” David Crichton said. “If I had truly known of my Samoan cultural heritage I would likely be covered in Samoan tatau.”

“I suffered all forms of abuse during my time in care, but the stripping of my cultural identity is the one thing that hurts the most and has had the most effect on me and my family,” he said.

**READ MORE:

* Abuse in care: Pasifika boys were treated worse than Pākehā, survivor says

* 'Structural racism': Adoption cut off abuse survivor from her culture

* Speaking out brings healing for 'little monster' created by state abuse

**

“It took many years, and I still struggle with it, to accept that I'm Samoan, because I wasn't raised as a Samoan … All my best friends are Māori, everyone I've ever known is Māori.”

From early childhood until he was 13 years old his care was handled by the Presbyterian Support Centre (PSC) in Wellington and became a state ward aged 14.

David Crichton’s daughter Brooke told the commission she and her siblings would spend the rest of their lives trying to figure out our cultural identities and fixing mistakes that should not be ours to fix,
David Crichton’s daughter Brooke told the commission she and her siblings would spend the rest of their lives trying to figure out our cultural identities and fixing mistakes that should not be ours to fix,'

Both organisations knew who his father was but never contacted him or his extended relatives.

Crichton now knows the Crichton family asked for him, but were refused. Records show his mother was mentally unwell, but the state followed her lead anyway.

Notes reveal she hated her son’s Samoan heritage and hid his biological father’s identity, but the state should not have, he said.

“PSC and the state knew from the very beginning that Jim Crichton was my dad, and that I was of Samoan heritage,” Crichton said.

“They knew she was very unwell … When PSC and the state became involved in my life and responsible for my care that duty fell squarely on them.”

David Crichton was physically and sexually abused in care, but being stripped of his Samoan identity hurts the most, he told the commission.
David Crichton was physically and sexually abused in care, but being stripped of his Samoan identity hurts the most, he told the commission.

Today, Crichton is in a six-year-long process of making an historical claim against the state, a complaint against the claims process itself and a claim against the PSC.

Last year, Ministry of Social Development staff disputed some abuse claims and offered him a small sum in exchange for his accepting an apology, he said. The process is painful for him.

“You're constantly having to relive it. It's the worst thing you can do to someone,” he said.

As a child, Crichton was moved through dozens of foster or care placements, starting with the PSC’s residential facility in Berhampore, Wellington. There, he was physically, sexually and psychologically abused and given heavy anti-psychotic medication.

Later at Epuni Boys’ Home, in Lower Hutt, more abuse followed, including a stint in a secure unit for six weeks. His records show it as two days.

“I believe that the staff would have recorded this incorrectly, because they knew that what was done to me was wrong,” he said.

When Crichton was 14, a new foster person supplied him with drugs and alcohol. Crichton became addicted and eventually stole to supply his habit in adulthood.

Through the royal commission process, that man has confirmed he abused Crichton while he was in his care, and MSD allege they are investigating him.

“I hold both him and the state responsible for my abuse, and the trauma and impacts this has had on me and my family.”

The Pacific hearings of the abuse in care inquiry continue until Friday 30 July.

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