The Salvation Army has made an unreserved apology to people who suffered from abuse as children while in its care.
Photo: RNZ
It made the statement to the Royal Commission of Inquiry into Abuse in Care.
Survivors of abuse by the Salvation Army on Thursday started giving evidence to the inquiry.
Before the survivors began to tell their stories, the Salvation Army made the statement.
Salvation Army lawyer Jenny Stevens said the abuse was terrible and unforgivable.
"It is to the Salvation Army's profound regret and shame that children were abused whilst in its care, but abuse did happen. The Salvation Army knows and acknowledges that and the Salvation Army is very sorry that abuse occurred. It wishes to unreservedly apologise to all survivors.
''What these survivors experienced was unwarranted and horrific. This has caused lasting damage to them and their wider circle of relationships."
She said there were no excuse for what happened.
''The lives that these children deserved were stolen from them. It is offensive that this was allowed to happen within an organisation that exists to serve a God of love,'' she said.
One of those survivors, 54-year-old Darrin Timpson spent most of his childhood at the Bramwell Booth Children's Home in Temuka.
He said the home was run on fear and violence inflicted mainly by two Salvation Army officers.
"Punishment was often excessive. One of the favourites of the staff was to put us in the pit. There was a big hole outside in the garage for fixing cars. The staff would put us in this and drive a car over it so we couldn't get out. Sometimes they left us there all day."
Around the age of eight or nine, he was sexually abused at the home.
"I knew what happened wasn't right and I kind of knew at the time it wasn't correct behaviour. Some of the girls in the home had told people earlier about the sexual abuse at Bramwell Booth. They just got shut down so I wasn't going to tell anyone at school or anything like that."
Timpson said the abuse he experienced shaped his entire life.
"It still affects me today. I don't go out. I stay at home. I feel a need to control my environment. I don't go where people gather, to theatres, swimming pools, pubs. I hate having anyone standing behind me. I struggle to form relationships with people and still I don't trust anyone."
He believes the Salvation Army's focus was too much on money.
Timpson first went to prison at the age of 17 or 18 and has spent much of his adult life in prison.
"My time at Bramwell Booth prepared me to go to jail. I learnt to be quiet, not trust people, not to go into a dark room alone. Prison was like the home, but without the abuse.
"They spent more time chasing money than taking care of me. There needs to be more oversight."
Janet Lowe spent time at the Salvation Army's Whatman Children's Home in Masterton.
She said it was regimented, violent and the children were treated like slave labour.
Lowe was then put into foster care and while two of the placements were ok, at the third one the foster father sexually abused her.
Later in life, she formed the Salvation Army Abuse Survivors Group.
"There was no sense that the army was in any way sorry for what had happened. Neither did they want to know about the abuse that had been happening that we had been talking about. We were put down as sinners at one church meeting that someone went to and spreading lies about the army. That was their way of dealing with it."
She said the formal public apology from the Salvation Army was a start in the right direction.
"I am hopeful that as an organisation they will change the things that need to be changed so that this can never happen again. It won't be children but they have elder care and IHC (sic) people. If they can put these things right it will be better for them and better for people they are working with."
Lowe said more effort must go into helping people understand the long term impacts of abuse.
"Once the abuse has happened, it has happened and it can't be taken away."
The Salvation Army said it was at the hearing to listen and learn from survivors and acknowledged its redress process had not been perfect and wished to learn from survivors experiences to do better in the future.
