Lake Alice staff member did not see abuse, torture or punishment

Tuesday, 22 June 2021

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A Lake Alice staff member who learnt about abuse and torture since leaving the hospital says the lead psychiatrist was more deceitful and evil than staff knew.

Denis Hesseltine worked as a psychiatric assistant at the child and adolescent unit, near Marton, between 1974 and 1979.

He told the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry in Auckland on Tuesday he never saw any punishment, torture or sexual abuse, and at the time believed Dr Selwyn Leeks, the lead psychiatrist at the unit, had good intentions.

Hesseltine had since been made aware of statements by staff members Terry Conlan, Steve Hunt and Leeks, where they admitted abuse. He said this was disappointing and should never have happened.

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“My reaction to learning all of this is that if Dr Leeks were here now, I would tell him I wish I were never part of his unit.

“It was not good learning and in some ways has changed how I look at this whole case.”

He said Leeks was perhaps more cunning, deceitful and evil than he and staff knew.

“I just accepted what Dr Leeks was doing and believed it to be therapeutic, but now my mind’s changed.”

He said, at the time, Leeks seemed an honest, sincere man who was helpful to the children and staff.

Hesseltine asked Conlan and Hunt about the allegations of abuse. Both denied it.

However, in 1977 the men told police they administered aversion therapy. In 2006 Conlan said he witnessed boys giving shock therapy to each other and saw Leeks put electrodes on a boy’s thighs and genitals.

Hesseltine said paraldehyde injections were used as a form of treatment, but only rarely, and calmed patients who were violent or hearing voices.

Leeks would come to the unit on Fridays for “ectonus” treatment. Hesseltine said Leeks told him the treatment was designed to stimulate the brain and did not involve being shocked into seizures or unconsciousness.

Hesseltine said the treatment, in hindsight, might have been unpleasant or scary for patients, even though it was explained to them.

Adolescent unit in Christchurch focused on talking, activities and schooling

Dr David Baron ran the child and adolescent unit at Sunnyside Hospital in Christchurch in the 1970s and said treatment involved medication if necessary, but the focus was on talking, activities and schooling.

The 10 patients would require his presence daily, and they would talk about how they were, what was going on in the ward, their lives and any complaints.

Lake Alice had about 45 children, which Baron said sounded like a nightmare and would take incredible skill to manage.

Families had regular access to the unit at Sunnyside and would sometimes be invited to therapy.

He said staff built relationships with the children and the unit became like an “unruly family”.

“We coped by keeping the numbers down but, even then, it was not easy. Working with distressed children requires exceptional levels of skill, training, endless patience and a special type of person.”

A magistrate would visit the unit once a week to see patients compulsorily treated. Baron would explain the situation and the magistrate would speak to the child before giving approval for treatment.

The unit did not use electro-convulsive therapy because it was not appropriate for children of that age group or their conditions.

Baron said he would use the electric shock therapy with adult patients, but only if other medication treatments had not worked, and with anaesthesia.

He never used paraldehyde and cannot recall it ever being used on children, only “extremely psychotic adult patients”.

He said the hospital did use chlorpromazine, a drug known as a chemical straightjacket, and in 1976 Baron presented a paper to the New Zealand branch of the Royal College of Australian and New Zealand psychiatrists with his concerns.

Baron said he would never have considered using aversion therapy and believed it to be well out-of-date by the 1970s.

He said electro-convulsive therapy was more common, and there was a widespread belief that it would wipe the slate clean and rebuild patients’ brains.

Baron said he was not aware of electrical aversion therapy, like Leeks administered, being used at hospitals he worked at in England, Australia or New Zealand.

He believed most of his professional contemporaries would have been horrified if they knew it was happening with children or adolescent patients.

Director of Mental Health does not recall the role she played in Lake Alice litigation

Dr Janice Wilson was the director of mental health from 1993 to 2000 and oversaw the implementation, application and use of the Mental Health Act.

She said she cannot recall in any detail the role she played in litigation, or investigations into allegations made against Leeks.

She said litigation filed by former patient Leonie McInroe in 1994 and class action led by lawyer Grant Cameron were reasonable, compelling and believable.

Despite this, Wilson said she signed an affidavit to strike out McInroe’s claim because she was asked to by Health Legal or Crown Law, and because it would be difficult to compile the relevant evidence.

“Even if I didn’t sign the affidavit, I think the strike-out claim would have still gone ahead.”

She said she did not know how widespread the complaints were until the Cameron class action started.

Wilson said her advice at the time was that it would be damaging for victims to go through mediation, and if there was another course of action that would give people a voice and allow for an apology, it should be pursued.