Name Peter Evaroa
Hometown Te Whanganui-ā-Tara Wellington
Age when entered care 4 years old
Year of birth 1963
Type of care facility Boys’ home – Epuni Boys’ Home; children’s homes – Christian home, Homeleigh Methodist Children’s Home; foster families.
Ethnicity Rarotongan and Pākehā
Whānau background Peter has three older brothers, three half-sisters and seven stepsisters. His biological father was extremely violent, drank a lot and would sometimes desert their family. Peter feels Social Welfare kept his mother from him.
Current Peter’s abuse has made it hard for him to maintain relationships, but he talks to his brothers. He has a long-term partner he talks to every day.

“The abuse I suffered makes me feel dead inside.” 

I spent six years being physically, sexually and psychologically abused in a Methodist Church children’s home.

Years later, when asked what I would want as compensation, I replied that nothing less than the value of a house would be enough. My answer wasn’t just for me but for all victims. I feel the value of a child’s life is higher than any price that could be paid as compensation. Yet a child’s life is exactly what was taken from so many of us when Social Welfare placed us in such toxic environments.

My parents separated when I was very young, and my brothers and I went to a Christian home for a period before going to live with our father and his new partner. However, Child Welfare started to receive a lot of complaints that we weren’t being properly looked after. After my brothers and I ran away we were taken to Epuni Boys’ Home for a few weeks and then became State wards.

I was 8 years old when Social Welfare placed us in Homeleigh Methodist Children’s Home.

I’d had a hearing impairment since I was young. Shortly after I arrived at Homeleigh, I was fitted with hearing aids. I still couldn’t hear clearly because sounds were amplified randomly – but I was punished for not listening. The constant noise also gave me headaches and the aids were really uncomfortable so I’d take them out.

The manager would often hit me around my head if I wasn’t wearing my hearing aids. Once he hit me so hard when I had them in that an aid broke and made my ear bleed. He then kicked me around my head because it was broken. I wasn’t allowed to go to school for a couple of weeks until my ear healed.

My hearing has been made worse by all the assaults I suffered in care.

At school, my deafness affected my ability to learn. I was mostly forced to sit at the back of the class and I didn’t get any additional support. I was also constantly bullied because I was Deaf and I was never taught sign language.

I wet my bed every night at Homeleigh. The manager, a different one, would grab me, drag me out of bed, then make me sit in a scalding hot bath, which made me scream and cry. He would often beat me around the head and body while I was sitting in the bath. I remember him taking me to his apartment at least twice, I think after one of the night-time baths. I have no memory of what happened in his apartment, my mind seems to go blank, but I do remember leaving with a sore bottom on each occasion.

Every time he seriously hurt me, he gave me 50 cents to stop crying and not tell anyone. It was a lot of money for a child back then.

He shot me on three occasions – I’m not sure if it was with an air rifle, a slug gun or a .22. The first time, he shot my big toe then took me to the bathroom to clean the wound. He then put my penis in his mouth and attempted to perform oral sex on me, possibly to stop me crying. This was a total shock and I really struggle with the fact that part of me must have enjoyed it because I did stop crying. Again, he gave me 50 cents not to tell anyone.

The second time he shot me in the stomach. He cleaned the wound and gave me 50 cents to keep quiet. I still have the scar. The third time, he shot me just below the knee. Again, he cleaned the wound and gave me 50 cents. I still have this scar too.

Although I was a State ward, I hardly ever saw a social worker and when they did visit, a manager was always present. I did complain once about how I was treated but I guess they didn’t believe me because nothing was done, except I got a hiding when they left. Even my school told my social worker I was having problems but no one ever asked me about it.

I thought I deserved to be treated badly. I really believed it. I think because our father had been so violent towards us, I felt it was normal to be treated like that.

I left Homeleigh when I was 15 years old, just before it closed due to insufficient funding. I was separated from my brothers and placed with various foster families for a few years. At one placement I finally stopped wetting the bed because I wasn’t afraid of my foster parents. This was a big deal for me, something I wasn’t used to. When I was 18 years old, I was discharged from Social Welfare’s guardianship. I felt relieved but lost because I didn’t have my brothers or sisters with me.

I then held a series of jobs and studied at university for two years but had to stop due to money issues. In 1983, I had a work-related accident and I’ve been on a benefit ever since.

At some point in the next decade, I confronted the man who sexually abused me. It took several tries to build up the courage. I couldn’t confront him about the sexual abuse or the shootings, but I did confront him about the beatings as I wanted closure. I wanted to get revenge. But he told me the beatings were just discipline. I felt like he thought he’d done nothing wrong and this made me very angry. I got no revenge and no closure.

In 2004, my father died and I started wetting the bed again. This brought back memories of Homeleigh so I laid a police complaint against the two managers, but as both men had died the police said there was nothing they could do. I wanted to take it further but couldn’t afford to. A year later, I visited Homeleigh, hoping that might make the memories go away. But when I got to the manager’s apartment I couldn’t move any further. I was just frozen to the floor.

In 2007, a law firm agreed to act for me on a legal aid basis. Due to funding issues, until 2013 they could only collect my records, talk to potential witnesses and work on a statement. In 2013, my lawyer and I met with the Ministry of Social Development (MSD) so I could talk about what happened at Homeleigh and other life experiences. This meeting was so stressful I started drinking.

I don’t like to talk about the abuse I suffered as child. It makes me feel dead inside.

In 2014, my lawyers filed a claim on my behalf against the Methodist Church. I was willing to take whatever it offered as long as the church apologised and acknowledged what had happened. In 2015, the church offered to settle for $10,000 but stated it saw no merit in my claims and refused to give me a letter of apology. After considerable negotiation I agreed to settle for $15,000. I remember telling myself the fact the Methodist Church was willing to pay me anything was an admission of liability and acknowledgement.

In 2016, I agreed to take part in MSD’s Fast Track Process, which is a faster way to assess and resolve historic claims. MSD offered me $20,000 along with a letter of apology from the chief executive. However, I had been told the apology would come from the Minister for Social Development so I tore the letter up. I wasn’t sure if MSD accepted responsibility for what had happened to me or if it was just trying to get rid of me like the Methodist Church.

After I accepted the payment, I found out if I had more than $900 in my bank account then I’d lose the supplementary payments I received with my invalid’s benefit. I was forced to spend the settlement money within six months on whiteware and furniture.

So, the State gave me the money, then forced me to get rid of it.

I feel like my life has been a failure and that it’s my fault. I drink heavily to cope and am an excessive smoker. I have attempted suicide on two occasions. I was addicted to gambling, but now I only play for fake money. However, I spend up to 11 hours a day doing it, just to stop thinking about the abuse.

It’s hard for me to maintain relationships and I am desensitised to emotion. I am wary of other people and concerned they will hurt me. I also have difficulty trusting people. I’ve thought about getting counselling but I don’t really believe anyone is going to help me. It’s down to me to help myself.

In 2022, when I worked with my lawyer on my statement for the Royal Commission, I asked them to contact the Methodist Church to revisit the outcome of my complaint. This resulted in a meeting with the Methodist Church general secretary. Following that, the church made me an additional offer of $60,000 with an apology in writing, and in person.

Now I think the State should revisit what they offered me too – it put me in Homeleigh, ignored how I was treated there and kept my mother away from me.

The State owes survivors like me our lives.[804]

Footnotes

[804] Witness statement of Peter Evaroa (10 October 2022).