George Gwaze's daughter, lawyer Tandy Gwaze-Musesengwa, says the Canterbury District Health Board inflicted "hurt and pain" on her family.

More than five years after George Gwaze was cleared of the rape and murder of his niece, his daughter is demanding answers and an apology from Christchurch Hospital.

Gwaze was acquitted twice – after trials in 2008 and 2012 – of killing his 10-year-old adopted daughter, Charlene Makaza.

Tandy Gwaze-Musesengwa, one of Gwaze's five children, wants the Canterbury District Health Board (CDHB) to explain why Charlene's body was allegedly allowed to decompose in Christchurch Hospital's mortuary after she died in 2007.

JOHN KIRK-ANDERSON/STUFF George Gwaze was acquitted of the rape and murder of his adopted daughter in Christchurch in 2012. Leaving court with his wife, Sifiso, right, and an unidentified supporter.

The Shine Lawyers solicitor wants an acknowledgement of "the hurt and pain" its doctors caused the family. If not, she is considering taking legal action, the grounds of which she had not yet considered.

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Defence experts believed Charlene's injuries and death were the result of an HIV-related infection. Christchurch Hospital doctors, who treated her in January 2007, believed she had injuries consistent with a sexual attack and suffocation. They gave evidence for the Crown cases against Gwaze in 2008 and 2012.

SUPPLIED Ten-year-old Charlene Makaza was a student at Wairakei School in Christchurch.

The hospital says it follows "strict protocols" for storing bodies.

Charlene's body was in the Christchurch Hospital mortuary for about 10 days. Gwaze-Musesengwa said the family asked, through police, to view Charlene's body, but this was denied. They asked that their church pastor view the body, which was denied too, she said.

Gwaze-Musesengwa said the family told the funeral director at the time they wanted to buy Charlene a white dress for her burial, but were told it would "not be possible as her body was decomposed and had been sealed in a body bag... because she was infectious".

STACY SQUIRES/STUFF George Gwaze's family, including his daughter Maggie, left, son Tafadzwa, rear left, and wife, Sifiso were overjoyed when he was found not guilty in 2012.

She said the body's treatment, and the hospital's failure to inform the family, was "something we would expect from a third-world country hospital".

Gwaze-Musesengwa said the body bag's size meant Charlene had to be buried in the adult's section of the Avonhead cemetery.

After the Coroner late last year decided not to resume an inquest into Charlene's death, Gwaze-Musesengwa this year complained about the handling of her body to the Health and Disability Commissioner (HDC), and complained to the CDHB.

"The Christchurch Hospital staff is responsible for the hurt and pain that was caused to Charlene and her entire family," Gwaze-Musesengwa wrote in a letter to the CDHB at the end of October. "We want answers. We will not be mucked around."

"Not once have we had Christchurch Hospital take responsibility for what happened to Charlene's body without Charlene's family being blamed or our 'recall of the situation' being questioned. "None of the doctors have ever retracted their statements or acknowledged the evidence presented, which refutes the case of sexual assault and murder," she wrote to the CDHB.

The HDC said the CDHB staff's medical examinations and diagnoses were "extensively reviewed" in court proceedings and, "having regard to all the circumstances of the case, in particular the length of time that has elapsed", would take no further action. It said the care of Charlene's body after her death fell outside its jurisdiction.

The CDHB responded in a letter saying "we are sorry to hear this is your recall of the situation at the time and remains an unresolved cause of distress for you and Charlene's family".

It said it had no record of any request by family members to see Charlene's body while it was in the mortuary.

The CDHB letter did not answer questions as to whether her body decomposed and why it was placed in a sealed bag, but said the CDHB followed "strict protocols" for storing bodies to preserve their integrity and for viewing.

Gwaze-Musesengwa said the CDHB letter was "degrading and traumatising". She responded with a threat of legal action. She was told the letter had been passed to the CDHB's legal team.

The CDHB said it did not comment on individual cases, but would respond to Gwaze-Musesengwa's letter this week.

Gwaze-Musesengwa said the family had "never moved on from this ordeal" and from the years of legal proceedings. The Crown appealed Gwaze's first acquittal and the Supreme Court ordered a new trial.

Her father moved to Australia at the end of 2016 because "no-one in New Zealand would offer him a job" after the trials, Gwaze-Musesengwa said.

Gwaze worked as a vet for 15 years in Zimbabwe before immigrating in 2004, where he retrained and gained New Zealand registration.

"Who protects the innocent family whose name was dragged through the mud not once, not twice, but in at least four court hearings," she said.