News

The Royal Commission on Abuse in Care next week delivers its much-delayed final report. But an earlier report, filed in December 2021, said abuse survivors needed an independent payment scheme urgently. So why hasn’t it happened? Mike Ledingham turned 74…

A Christchurch park and road have been renamed to remove the reminder of the dark past of Marylands School. From Thursday, the former Marylands Reserve and Marylands Place will be known as Validation Park and Validation Place, in honour of the survivors…

Peer support services are rapidly gaining mainstream acceptance thanks to recent federal initiatives, new reimbursement opportunities and the fallout from the opioid crisis. Peers have a unique ability to drive sustained patient engagement, industry insiders said at Behavioral Health Business’…

For the men who survived “evil” sexual and physical abuse in a Catholic boys’ home in Christchurch, last week was the first time authority figures gave them a reason to smile. The reserve and street named after Marylands School is being renamed…

Auckland’s Dilworth boarding school was set up to to provide education to boys from disadvantaged backgrounds for free. Last year an independent inquiry into sexual and physical abuse at the school uncovered a “catalogue of damage and injustice” spanning more…

OPINION: As the ink dries on the Royal Commission’s report in abuse in state care, what must it be like for survivors to witness the Government’s direction on boot camps for young offenders? ‘Boot camps’ serve only one real purpose…

Late last year, former Marist Brother Charles Afeaki changed his plea, mid-trial, and admitted to 13 charges of sexual abuse of two 11-year-old boys in the 1970s. Former Marist Brother Charles Afeaki will be sentenced in May for his abuse of…

When I first plunged back into postgraduate studies, I had no idea it would lead me here – to new perspectives that have unravelled not only my previous academic understandings, but also, understandings of myself, my identity, my intentions, and…

A Marlborough sports coach facing a raft of charges relating to sexual offences against children has had four more charges laid against him. The new charges relate to alleged events that happened between July 2014 and August 2022. The new…

A major police investigation into abuse at Gloriavale has identified more than 100 potential victims of crimes spanning about four decades, Stuff can reveal. The previously undisclosed and ongoing investigation, dubbed Operation Mathius, began in 2021, and followed another investigation that brought to light…

Charles Afeaki, a Marist Brother and schoolteacher, was prolific in his sexual offending against his pupils in the 1970s. This month, he stood trial again on charges which have ruined his victims’ lives. Steve Kilgallon reports. Charles Afeaki walked slowly…

“From that day on, I was terrified,” an alleged victim of sexual abuse by Marist Brother and schoolteacher Charles Afeaki told an interviewing police detective. “I stopped learning at that class, I stopped learning at that school. I stopped learning forever.” Three…