***Distressing content warning***

At the time of the hearing Paul Zentveld was 61 years old and is a survivor of the Lake Alice Child and Adolescent Unit. He was admitted to the Child and Adolescent Unit five times between the ages of 13 and 15 where he was heavily medicated and routinely subjected to electroconvulsive therapy and seclusion. He gave evidence relating to his time at Lake Alice and the subsequent efforts he has made to seek justice for the wrongs he suffered as an adolescent. He was one of the claimants represented by Grant Cameron in 2001. He has also made various complaints to bodies such as the Victorian Medical Practitioners Board, ACC, the New Zealand Police, and the Whanganui District Health Board. Most recently, he took his complaint to the United Nations, and in 2017 he filed a formal complaint with the United Nations Convention Against Torture (UNCAT). The complaint, which alleged the New Zealand Government had failed to investigate the complaints of torture and ill-treatment against minors at Lake Alice, or hold any individual accountable, was upheld by UNCAT in 2019.