While the tragic story at the end of 2010 of a nine-year-old girl that was abused by her parents seems set to have a happier outcome, INNES LOGAN wonders who’s best to tackle New Zealand’s chronic domestic violence problem.
A nine-year-old girl spent the Christmas holidays away from her family and their Ranui home in west Auckland… and for that we should all be grateful. Her parents were charged last December for more than 35 offences for cruelty and violence against their children, their nine-year-old girl being the one who suffered the most.
Part of her scalp had torn off her head as she was being dragged down the hallway. Her toenail had been ripped out with salt and boiling water poured into the wound. She had a broken bone in her foot that had gone untreated and her entire body was covered in bruises from being hit with the likes of a vacuum cleaner pipe and a broomstick.
When police entered the home following complaints, they found the girl hiding in a wardrobe starving, dehydrated and anaemic because of internal bleeding.
Initially, I didn’t know what ethnicity this child was. A couple of days later the New Zealand Herald reported that when neighbours asked her whereabouts, having not seen her for weeks, the mother said she was down the line at a tangi.
For those concerned at the high levels of violence within Maori and Pacific communities, our fears and sadly our expectations, were confirmed.
For more than two decades I lived near Ranui, probably went to the same shops to buy milk, bread, a paper or the occasional takeaways as they did. Knowing I would have driven past their house many times oblivious to the torture that went on inside made me ill.
So, who’s to blame? The community which, being in the same neighbourhood, I am also part of? Child Youth & Family, who had removed the child from her parents shortly after her birth, only to return her to them two years ago?
Is it a Maori issue? If so, is a peaceful, law-abiding Maori who lives outside of west Auckland any more responsible than I, who lived just up the road from where the abuse took place?
Paula Bennett, Minister of Social Development, said New Zealand is a leader in the OECD for beating, abusing and neglecting our young. And while she has met with iwi about her concerns, she says it’s a challenge for all New Zealanders.
The simple facts, however, show New Zealand does not have such a woeful record if you take away the levels of violence among Maori, and to a lesser extent Pacific. If only the solutions were simple.
The respect for those Maori who speak out is to be admired.
Anton Blank, from the Maori child advocacy organisation Te Kahui Mana Ririki, was upset and devastated when he discovered the girl was Maori and described the abuse as “sadistic”.
Te Kahui’s chair Dr Hone Kaa has long campaigned against domestic violence among Maori and was a member of the Yes Vote Coalition in the 2009 Referendum, which many Maori and Pacific organisations strongly opposed.
A Children’s Commission Report, Death and serious injury from assault: a review of international literature and recent findings, strengthened Dr Kaa’s views.
It showed that during 1991 and 2000 half of the children killed by their parents were Maori, who make up just 13% of the population.
“The report made a direct connection between being Maori and child abuse. Our boys are six times more likely to be abused than other groups, and girls three times more likely … as a people, this is the most critical issue we face.”
2011 started on a brighter note for this nine-year-old when she received an overwhelming number of donations, with presents that filled up a room and endless offers of help.
But what of the thousands of others who are unlikely to ever make the front page or television news unless they are killed?
How can they be saved? And who can save them?
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