The purpose of this letter is to record my frustration and dismay over the present New Zealand Government's failure to (financially) compensate me for the effects of the abuse that I suffered while I was under their care as a Ward of the State During the years 1966 through to 1973. During the 29 or so months (in total) that | spent in Epuni Boys Home and Kohitere Boys Training Centre | was bullied and denigrated on a constant, and ever-present basis by the other boys, with no protection ever given to me at all by any of the staff. Iwas sexually abused by a (male) staff member in Epuni Boys Home on two occasions. I was knowingly locked up in the Kohitere secure unit for a week for the misdemeanours of another boy. I was subjected daily to punishments that were inhumane and that only served to generate a hatred and rejection of others, and of society at large. And those are only a few of the events that happened to me. Repeatedly, I was forced to live with foster parents who were clearly unsuitable to care for a child with my ‘problems’. Perversely, when | lived with foster parents who did understand me and who nurtured me, then I was removed from them and I was instead made to live with unsuitable foster parents or put back in Epuni Boys Home. 1 was made to spend a year a year in Porirua Psychiatric Hospital, when I was only 13 years old, for what purpose | still don't know nor understand. I was encouraged to forgo my education and schooling at 14 years old. By the time that I was nearly 15 years old, | felt so bullied, abused and worthless that I attempted suicide by punching my fist through four panes of glass. The memory of that incident and what led to it are still enough to cry about. The scars on my arm are horrible. Instead of any understanding, any sympathy, let alone any type of counselling, | was then punished for that suicide attempt by being forced to spend a year in Kohitere Boys Training Centre. There I was subjected to the worst bullying and degradations that I had ever experienced. It was a shocking place to live. After my period at Kohitere ended in March, 1972, | was released into a world for which I had been given little preparation for. Since then it has for me been an uphill struggle in my efforts to be a good person. The abuse period in my life didn't just simply end when I ceased to be a Ward of the State. Even now, more than 40 years later, the (mostly negative) effects of what happened to me during my period as a Ward ofthe State continue to manifest themselves in my memories, in my decision making, and in my emotional responses to others. What others take for granted, like stable relationships, emotional stability, financial and vocational security, | know little of. Ihave no close relationships with other people and in my life | have had only a few very short-lived and unsatisfactory close relationships or partnerships. | believe that this is primarily a consequence of what happened to me and what | learnt when | was a ward of the state. The government of the time allowed me to be abused while | was a state ward and under their ‘care and protection’, The present government's attitude towards me, and my claim for compensation, is only abusing me further. The financial compensation that my legal representatives are seeking is probably less than what our Prime ster, John Keys, earns in a month. Certainly, it is less than what top civil servants earn in a month. They ought to be ashamed of themselves. And they should be offering us more. In Sincerity, SWMMB./0 7/2015.