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A child abuse victim who told her traumatic story for a TV documentary has spoken out against Television New Zealand for screening the programme at midnight.
Jude Simpson, now family violence prevention advocate for Presbyterian Support Northern, says childhood abuse by her stepmother gave her such a low self-image that she spent the next 30 years in abusive relationships with members of the Mongrel Mob and Highway 61, having children to a series of different fathers.
She told her story on To Hell and Back because she has now devoted her life to helping other women to escape from similar situations.
"I believe that the subject, and the way it was done, would have benefited some people in this nation who are in these lifestyles because they don't even hope that there might be a way out," she said yesterday.
The programme was commissioned by TVNZ for its Expose series and was filmed in Tauranga in 2006 by a small Wellington company, Martin Square Productions.
When Expose ended, the item was included in plans for the current Real Life series, which this week featured a soldier who had a sex change.
But at the last minute, the producer was informed last week that the programme would screen last weekend. It was broadcast at 12.05am, just after midnight, on Sunday night.
TVNZ public affairs manager Megan Richards said yesterday that there were "difficulties" during the programme's production, and "in the end we felt it was not realised to quite the standard required for prime-time screening".
"Our options were also limited by the content, which carried an AO rating and prevented our usual practice of a repeat in a weekend daytime slot," she said. "The timeslot was no reflection on the importance of the subject matter or the validity of the personal stories that were told."
A former 'P' addict who also featured, Paul Bennett, said he was not aware of any concerns about quality.
"It was well done. It was up to the standard of any other documentary."
He said the programme included re-enactments of his drug use and a scene in which Jude Simpson was attacked with a knife by her partner. But violence was indicated rather than shown directly.
The Broadcasting Standards Authority code of practice says programmes rated AO (adults only) may be screened between midday and 3pm on weekdays (except during school and public holidays) and after 8.30pm.
