739.    In the wake of publicity about Mr Halo’s case, two separate families of tamariki who had been at Lake Alice contacted Dr Oliver Sutherland of the Auckland Committee on Racism and Discrimination (ACORD).^[1394] Dr Sutherland met with the two boys and their families. He was told boys at the unit not only received ECT to their heads, but also received a “special sort of punishment”^[1395] that involved electrodes from the ECT machine being placed on either side of their knees so an electric current could be administered.^[1396] Dr Sutherland said he met with Dr Mirams on 11 May 1977 to present these further allegations to him and demand a full inquiry into the treatment of children and young people at Lake Alice as well as immediate closure of the unit.^[1397]

740.    After this meeting with Dr Sutherland, Dr Mirams gave an interview to the New Zealand Herald in which he said the ECT machine had been removed from the unit. He confirmed ACORD had presented him with further allegations about the treatment of children and young people at the unit.^[1398] Dr Mirams said:

“If this is true it would involve deliberately giving a painful shock with the intention of it being painful … the pain would not be incidental to the treatment, as it is with much medical treatment. This is the allegation I am looking into. If it is true, a number of considerations of professional judgement could apply but I would find it very difficult to envisage any defence which could be offered in those circumstances.”^[1399]

741.    Dr Mirams also commissioned a lawyer and district inspector for the Auckland region, Mr Gordon Vial, to investigate the allegations ACORD had presented to him.^[1400]

742.    On 27 May 1977, Acting Minister of Health, Hugh Templeton, responded in a media interview to allegations from the opposition that Lake Alice was using ECT to punish tamariki. Mr Templeton strongly denied the allegations and rejected the need for a further commission of inquiry into the wider use of ECT at Lake Alice.^[1401] However, Mr Templeton did confirm that an “inquiry into the use of ECT at [Lake Alice] was being conducted” by Mr Vial in response to a complaint by ACORD.^[1402]

743.    Mr Vial was in the second of two five-year terms as a district inspector under the Mental Health Act 1969. Mr Vial never visited Lake Alice and had no contact with Dr Leeks or any of the staff there, but he did meet with the boys in June 1977 and prepared separate notes of each meeting.^[1403] One boy, Mr EB, was more forthcoming than the other boy. Mr EB described receiving electric shocks to his head several times without anaesthetic administered by Dr Leeks.^[1404] He also spoke of being punished by having shocks to his legs three times – twice for fighting and once for smoking. On these occasions, nurses administered the shocks without a doctor present.^[1405]

744.    The shocks were painful, and he recalled one knocked him off the chair he was sitting on. Other boys heard him screaming, and he had to be helped downstairs following the session as his leg was still hurting. On one occasion he was told “this should teach you a lesson”. On another, a nurse was “laughing his head off” as he received electric shocks. The boy also reported seeing boys shocked in pairs while being strapped together at the knee for smoking.^[1406]

745.    Mr Vial admitted to being ‘sceptical’ at first, but acknowledged that Mr EB “was neither evasive nor uncertain” and it was not apparent that Mr EB’s account was based on any “bitterness or vindictiveness towards the nurses” concerned.^[1407] Mr Vial’s firm impression was that the boy’s account should be investigated further, and he said so in the report he sent to the Department of Health.^[1408]

746.    Having received Mr Vial’s report, Dr Mirams sent Commissioner of NZ Police Ken Burnside copies of notes that Mr Vial had made of his interviews with the two boys he met and statements from Mr DR and Mr EB. Dr Mirams also attached notes he had prepared for the Minister of Health on 19 May 1977, which set out his opinion that:

“Should it be established any member of the nursing staff has administered shocks of whatever nature to a patient at Lake Alice, that this would constitute an offence in terms of section 112 of the Mental Health Act and it might be most appropriately dealt with by laying an information with the Police.”^[1409]

747.    The Commissioner of Police responded by setting in motion a police  investigation into the concerns raised by Dr Mirams.

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