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11 Jan 2026 3:30
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  •   Home > News > Health & Safety

    James Packer was given a cocktail of anti-psychotic drugs at Sunnyside Psychiatric Hospital ? which left him crawling on the ground and dribbling

    James Packer was given a cocktail of anti-psychotic drugs at Sunnyside Psychiatric Hospital ? which left him crawling on the ground and dribbling


    The first victims of the Abuse in Care Royal Commission of Inquiry are testifying at a redress hearing.

    Packer is deaf and has Asperger's syndrome.

    He was admitted to Sunnyside in 1992 and stayed 11 years.

    An initial assessment found no significant mental illness or intellectual disability.

    Packer's mother, Cheryl Munro, read his statement - in which he says he was misdiagnosed with schizophrenia for two years until a clinician came from Australia.

    Packer says that diagnosis was ignored and he continued to be medicated for schizophrenia.

    He suffered physical abuse at Kelston School for the Deaf during the 1980s - as well as at Sunnyside.

    © 2026 Newstalk ZB, NZCity

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