The Star: February 08, 2024
You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles
YUMPU automatically turns print PDFs into web optimized ePapers that Google loves.
<strong>The</strong> <strong>Star</strong> Thursday <strong>February</strong> 8 <strong>2024</strong><br />
10<br />
NEWS<br />
Latest Canterbury news at starnews.co.nz<br />
Investigation into mental health<br />
worker’s paid sex with patient<br />
• By Anna Leask<br />
A SOUTH Island mental health<br />
worker is under investigation<br />
after a formal complaint from a<br />
patient claiming he paid her for<br />
sex soon after she was released<br />
from a secure unit.<br />
<strong>The</strong> patient also alleges she<br />
sought help from the man during<br />
a particularly rough time<br />
– but instead of helping her, he<br />
drove her to a secluded location<br />
and touched her intimately.<br />
Te Whatu Ora says it is “extremely<br />
concerned” about the<br />
complaint and has launched a<br />
full investigation into the man.<br />
Text messages provided to<br />
the NZ Herald reveal the man’s<br />
pursuit of the patient.<br />
It is understood the messages<br />
were sent from a Te Whatu Orafunded<br />
work phone.<br />
<strong>The</strong> Herald has agreed not to<br />
name the man or patient while<br />
the investigation is under way.<br />
<strong>The</strong> patient reached out to<br />
share her story soon after making<br />
the formal complaint.<br />
She said she wanted to expose<br />
the man, who she felt had taken<br />
advantage of her, and make sure<br />
he was properly investigated for<br />
his behaviour.<br />
Over the years the patient has<br />
struggled with bipolar and drug<br />
addiction.<br />
She is a sex worker – a job she<br />
is proud of and enjoys without<br />
any shame.<br />
“I genuinely love my job and<br />
my bookings and want to be<br />
a really good escort,” she said,<br />
adding that was a big motivation<br />
for seeking treatment.<br />
She said she met the mental<br />
health worker through a church<br />
in their hometown a few years<br />
ago.<br />
She spoke to him then about<br />
her occupation and her personal<br />
struggle with addiction.<br />
Last year she encountered him<br />
again when she was admitted to<br />
a mental health unit to help with<br />
COMPLAINT: <strong>The</strong> patient says she was struggling with<br />
addiction and bipolar when the mental health worker<br />
from a secure unit she was admitted to for five weeks paid<br />
her for sex.<br />
PHOTO: GETTY<br />
her bipolar, and a drug relapse.<br />
She said during her admission<br />
the man “took a genuine interest<br />
in helping me”.<br />
“We talked about my want to<br />
begin sex work again,” she said.<br />
“Five weeks later I was discharged<br />
on a Friday and began<br />
sex work on the Saturday. <strong>The</strong>n a<br />
week later I get a private number<br />
call and it was (the mental health<br />
worker) wanting a booking to<br />
have sex with me.”<br />
She agreed to the booking and<br />
the pair had sex.<br />
This happened again on a<br />
second occasion.<br />
<strong>The</strong> man told her he was<br />
watching explicit videos she had<br />
uploaded to an adult website.<br />
“He began calling me masturbating<br />
over the phone,” she said.<br />
“Our last booking was before<br />
Christmas and he said he’d sold<br />
one of his guitars to pay for me.”<br />
Last month the man sent the<br />
patient a text message to try and<br />
book a further appointment with<br />
her.<br />
She disclosed to him that she<br />
had been struggling with her<br />
mental health and addiction<br />
again and asked if she could<br />
speak with him.<br />
She felt that she had no one<br />
else to turn to and was comfortable<br />
with the worker as he knew<br />
about her history and had said he<br />
wanted to help with her issues.<br />
Text messages show the patient<br />
suggested the pair meet for a<br />
drink.<br />
“Not a booking, just a chat,”<br />
she wrote.<br />
“I’m working late tonight and<br />
don’t drink. I would have rather<br />
had a booking but only have $75<br />
. . . I’ll just have to wait . . . maybe<br />
I just look up your (web)site for<br />
relief LOL,” he replied.<br />
He went on to say: “I can’t wait<br />
to see, smell, taste & feel you”.<br />
He agreed to meet her for “just<br />
a talk and coffee” and suggested<br />
coming to the patient’s home.<br />
She said her flatmate was home<br />
and he agreed to pick her up and<br />
take her somewhere.<br />
In her complaint she said the<br />
purpose of the meeting was<br />
“to hang out just as people as I<br />
wondered if I could talk to him<br />
because he’s aware of my past”.<br />
She said the worker picked her<br />
up from her home and drove her<br />
to a secluded location.<br />
She began to disclose her<br />
recent struggles and he said he<br />
“couldn’t help but take off his<br />
clinical hat” because he wanted<br />
to be intimate with her.<br />
She said he stopped her talking,<br />
and began to touch her intimately<br />
and telling her he wanted<br />
to have sex.<br />
“I said no because I wasn’t feeling<br />
well, I asked him to drop me<br />
off,” she said.<br />
She said he “prayed” for her<br />
before she left the vehicle.<br />
“I felt really sad that the one<br />
person I thought could help had<br />
made me feel cheap and stupid,”<br />
she said.<br />
“My mental health spiralled<br />
and I just lost my shit.<br />
“I couldn’t stop crying and felt<br />
so helpless I wanted to take my<br />
own life.”<br />
She said there had been a couple<br />
of times she had “desperately<br />
needed” to readmit herself to the<br />
mental health ward but she was<br />
too scared in case she saw the<br />
worker.<br />
“He said if he ever saw me in<br />
there he’d sneak into my room<br />
and f**k me,” she said in her<br />
complaint.<br />
<strong>The</strong> patient said she made the<br />
complaint after telling a friend<br />
about what had happened.<br />
It was only then she realised<br />
that the worker’s behaviour was<br />
inappropriate.<br />
“I realised he was wrong – I<br />
TEXT: <strong>The</strong><br />
mental health<br />
worker (grey<br />
text) wanted a<br />
booking for sex<br />
when the woman<br />
asked to meet<br />
and talk about<br />
her struggles.<br />
PHOTO: NZ<br />
HERALD<br />
asked him for help and he turned<br />
around and that to me instead of<br />
giving me the mental health support<br />
that I wanted,” she said.<br />
<strong>The</strong> patient said she was angry<br />
at the man and wanted him held<br />
accountable for his actions.<br />
“I thought he was innocently<br />
expressing his sexuality – until<br />
I needed help and he didn’t care<br />
but pursued his own needs,” she<br />
said.<br />
“I’d just be happy for him to be<br />
exposed and made an example<br />
of because the more I think of it<br />
the more I realise how f**ked up<br />
it was.<br />
She worried there would be<br />
others like her out there who<br />
may be in similar positions,<br />
which is why she reached out to<br />
the Herald.<br />
<strong>The</strong> director of operations<br />
for the hospital and specialist<br />
services in the area where the<br />
patient lives acknowledged the<br />
complaint.<br />
“Te Whatu Ora is extremely<br />
concerned about the complaint<br />
received and is taking it very<br />
seriously,” she said.<br />
“Our usual complaints process<br />
is being followed and a full investigation<br />
will be undertaken.<br />
“Until that investigation is<br />
complete it’s inappropriate for us<br />
to comment further.”<br />
<strong>The</strong> patient said a Te Whatu<br />
Ora Health NZ representative<br />
had been in contact after she<br />
made the complaint, advising<br />
her the worker had been “stood<br />
down”.<br />
– NZ Herald<br />
Guided<br />
and Escorted<br />
Group Tours<br />
with Kiwi Travel Club<br />
• Easy paced – Ideal for mature travelers<br />
• Limited places<br />
• Book early<br />
• Free Club Membership<br />
Australian Red<br />
Centre Group Tour<br />
Uluru (Ayers Rock) to Alice Springs<br />
8 Days, departs 24 June <strong>2024</strong><br />
$3,700<br />
Twin Share – Early Bird Special!<br />
Save $500 per couple<br />
Package includes:<br />
• Day tours<br />
• Comfortable hotel accommodation<br />
• Breakfasts and some other meals<br />
• Sounds of Silence Dinner<br />
• Local guides<br />
<strong>The</strong> Kimberley<br />
Group Coach Tour<br />
Darwin to Broome<br />
11 days, departs 23 August <strong>2024</strong><br />
$8,500<br />
Twin Share Early Bird Special!<br />
Book Now. Save $1,500 per couple<br />
Package includes:<br />
• Return flights<br />
• Extensive sightseeing<br />
• Boat trips and harbour cruise<br />
• Many meals<br />
Elvis Fans<br />
Group Tour<br />
Graceland, Nashville, New Orleans,<br />
plus Las Vegas & Hawaii Stopovers<br />
16 days, departs 21 September <strong>2024</strong><br />
$9,150<br />
Twin Share Early Bird Offer Available<br />
Package includes:<br />
• Return flights<br />
• Extensive sightseeing<br />
• Graceland day tour<br />
• Grand Ole Opry<br />
Freephone: <strong>08</strong>00 895 194<br />
Email: info@ktctours.com<br />
kiwitravelclub.co.nz