Cornelia `treated like an animal’: [2 All-round First Edition]
Stapleton, John. The Australian [Canberra, A.C.T] 18 July 2005: 5.
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Abstract
NSW Institute of Psychiatry director Louise Newman said unless specific action was taken to ensure that such a situation could never reoccur, “we are all guilty of harming [CORNELIA Rau]”.
The 60 Minutes footage showed an apparently happy Ms Rau walking along bush tracks. She declared it was “good to be back in nature” after her long time behind bars. Ms Rau said she had lied about her identity, claiming to be a German tourist, because she did not want to get caught up with a cult in which she had been previously involved.
Full Text
CORNELIA Rau claimed last night she had been mistreated throughout the 10 months she was wrongly detained as a suspected illegal immigrant.
Mr Rau said she had been “treated like an animal” during the ordeal that sparked a federal inquiry and prime ministerial apology last week.
“It was pretty hard,” she told the Nine Network’s 60 Minutes. She described the entire experience as a “black hole in my life”.
Despite being diagnosed as suffering schizophrenia, Ms Rau denied she was mentally ill. “Definitely not,” she said.
She did not hear voices and the authorities had got this “all wrong”.
The 60 Minutes footage showed an apparently happy Ms Rau walking along bush tracks. She declared it was “good to be back in nature” after her long time behind bars. Ms Rau said she had lied about her identity, claiming to be a German tourist, because she did not want to get caught up with a cult in which she had been previously involved.
“I just felt pretty vulnerable,” she said.
“I would never have imagined myself in any of the situations I was in.”
Ms Ra said she was considered a troublemaker by officials for no apparent reason and repeatedly locked up in solitary confinement.
“It was pretty horrendous and I would never like anybody to go to a jail if they’re not guilty of something,” she said.
Asked what she expected of the Australian Government she said: “Well, I think it is important that I get truth in this matter, that people understand that I am a person who has been unjustly treated, and I would like people to respect that.”
Ms Rau thought it was sad that she was not completely free, but “I feel some freedom”.
“It is not as fabulous as I would like it to be,” she said.
NSW Institute of Psychiatry director Louise Newman said unless specific action was taken to ensure that such a situation could never reoccur, “we are all guilty of harming Cornelia Rau”.