Ellen O Dwyer12:25, May 09 2021
Oranga Tamariki/Supplied
Hamilton Boys Home was in operation from 1959 to 1990.
The night 13-year-old Daniel Rei arrived at Hamilton Boys’ Home was the first time he thought he was going to die. He arrived at his room and was covered in a blanket, hit, kicked and punched repeatedly by other boys. It ended in a black eye, swollen lips, loosened teeth and bruises. But the beatings were far from over. “Later I’d find out [the violence] goes on in degrees, there’s kiddy stuff, and then it gets bigger and bigger and bigger,” Rei told the Royal Commission into Abuse in State Care.
Abuse in state care: Boys homes taught repeat offender how to be sneakier, more violent and angrier
4 May, 2021 07:48 AM
4 minutes to read
Daniel Rei: I m still affected by the past and the reality is it s never going to go away. Photo / Andrew McRae
Daniel Rei: I m still affected by the past and the reality is it s never going to go away. Photo / Andrew McRae
RNZ
By Andrew McRae of RNZ
A man who has spent many years of his life in prison says he learnt his trade while in state-run boys homes.
Daniel Rei, 47, has given evidence to the Royal Commission into Abuse in Care as it focuses on residential care.
Murray Wilson/Stuff
Daniel Rei was in state care for four years at a family home in New Plymouth, Hamilton Boys’ Home and the Kohitere Boys’ Training Centre in Levin. His behaviour got aggressive after experiencing racism at school in Taranaki, and after being sexually abused by his uncle when he was 8 years old, so his mother contacted the Department of Social Welfare. In December 1986 he was admitted to the Rosendale Family Home where became involved in sexual activity, started sniffing glue daily, smoking cigarettes and cannabis and taking benzodiazepines. He was admitted to Hamilton Boys’ Home after committing burglaries. He was not there long, and ran away as often as he could.
Murray Wilson/Stuff
Daniel Rei was in state care for four years at a family home in New Plymouth, Hamilton Boys’ Home and the Kohitere Boys’ Training Centre in Levin. His behaviour got aggressive after experiencing racism at school in Taranaki, and after being sexually abused by his uncle when he was 8 years old, so his mother contacted the Department of Social Welfare. In December 1986, he was admitted to the Rosendale Family Home where he became involved in sexual activity, started sniffing glue daily, smoking cigarettes and cannabis and taking benzodiazepines. He was admitted to Hamilton Boys’ Home after committing burglaries. He was not there long, and ran away as often as he could.