ROSA WOODS/STUFF
Grant West, a survivor of child sexual abuse, has since gone on to become the face of sexual abuse survivors and started the idea of tying ribbons to church fences.
GRAPHIC CONTENT: Grant West sobbed in his cell-like room. Arthur Taylor was a bright kid and couldn’t figure out what he was doing there. Keith Wiffin met violence before he even arrived. They were boys – aged 10, 11 and 11 respectively – on their first days inside the now-infamous Epuni Boys’ Home in Lower Hutt, north of Wellington. Epuni Boys’ Home, situated on 441 Riverside Dr in Lower Hutt, opened in 1959. Over the next 32 years, there were about 5000 admissions, some of them boys who returned a number of times.
A compilation of photos taken at Epuni Boys Home.
Photo: Supplied
Keith Wiffin, 61, was first sent to Epuni at the age of 10, and has given evidence for the third time to the inquiry into abuse in care.
He was sexually abused by a housemaster, Alan Moncrieff-Wright, who 40 years later in 2011 was convicted of assaulting three boys, including Wiffin.
In new evidence to the Royal Commission, Wiffin said it has recently come to his attention that boys were driven in the Epuni Home van by Moncrieff-Wright to a Catholic facility in the Hutt Valley area where some boys were selected by priests to be sexually abused.
Andrew Meadows.
Photo: RNZ
Andrew Meadows, 56, told the commission he was sexually abused by his father from the age of 5 before being sent to another home.
The commission is holding public hearings focusing on state run residential homes and family foster homes.
The inquiry heard Meadows was abused by Nigel Hibberd who, with his wife, ran a family home in Henderson.
He complained to the then Social Welfare Department and later found out he was not the first. Why the hell did social welfare place me under his care knowing that there was already complaints. When I found out later on, I was absolutely gobsmacked.
Analysis - What did these places look like - the endless corridors, the sloppy food? This week, more than 30 years on, some welcome specifics may appear in the public record, David Cohen writes.
Photo: RNZ / Patrice Allen
The investigation by the Royal Commission will examine abuse and neglect of children and young people in residences run by the state, and by independent organisations on behalf of the state.
This includes boys and girls social welfare and family homes, and institutions that provided combined care and protection and youth justice care.
The hearing will hear from survivors of Kohitere Boy s Training Centre, Hokio Beach School, Epuni Boys Home, Ōwairaka Boys Home, Bollard Girls Home, Whakapakiri Youth Trust (Great Barrier Island), Kingslea Girls Homes, Moerangi Treks, and also Family Homes throughout New Zealand.
Sixteen witnesses will give evidence to the Royal Commission on their experiences while in care between 1950 and 1999.