A recently unveiled coroner’s report has shed light on the appalling conditions that law enforcement discovered during a raid on June 23, 2020.
In a nightmarish scene, officers found Lee imprisoned in a bedroom sealed off by a deadbolt, shrouded in perpetual darkness. A heavy black sheet covered the window, taped in place to create a damp and frigid environment devoid of ventilation.
Remarkably, the room’s light switches had been rendered useless, taped to ensure they remained off. Lee himself was discovered clad in a wetsuit over an adult diaper, with the wetsuit’s zip-cord removed, leaving him unable to remove it independently.
The room was monitored by CCTV cameras, revealing Lee’s harrowing routine of confinement—sometimes for as long as 16 hours, often from 5 p.m. until late morning the next day. Despite his incontinence, footage showed Lee knocking and pleading for assistance for up to an hour, only to be met with silence from those within the house.
The grim reality of this situation led to David Lee, Lee’s son, and his partner, known only as “C,” facing justice in 2022. They were convicted of a series of charges, including the failure to provide essential care and subjecting a vulnerable adult to unhealthy conditions. Additionally, David Lee was found guilty of assault, forgery, and 32 counts of theft, having illicitly obtained $216,000 from his parents.
The presiding judge in the sentencing concluded that David Lee’s actions were driven solely by a desire to keep his father at home, thus ensuring “uninterrupted access to significant sums of money,” which he then squandered on vacations, vehicles, and lavish home entertainment systems.
David Lee received a sentence of six years’ imprisonment, while C was sentenced to 22 months’ imprisonment following an appeal. In June 2024, David Lee conceded to the Parole Board that “torture” was an appropriate description of his father’s treatment.Â
M documented that she felt the couple “had the best intentions to keep Norm safe” and subsequently leaked a confidential plan by Lee’s daughter to safely remove her father from the house.
The HDC concluded M made a “serious error of judgement” that jeopardised the safety plan. M’s employment subsequently ended and she has retired.
The HDC was also highly critical of four daily home carers from HealthCare NZ who entered the house but failed to escalate red flags, including the padlock on the door, the wetsuit, and the CCTV cameras. Both health organisations have since implemented systemic updates and safety frameworks.
A forensic pathologist noted that Lee’s death was caused by pneumonia and severe cardiovascular disease. While a definitive link could not be drawn, the pathologist stated the neglect and living environment almost certainly increased his frailty, exacerbated his dementia, and elevated his risk of developing pneumonia.
Coroner M Borrowdale ruled that the inquiry would not be resumed, satisfying that the prior criminal and agency investigations had sufficiently established the circumstances of the tragedy.
This article has been reproduced with permission from Stuff.co.nz.
