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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Taranaki-King Country
MP Shane Ardern says he raised concerns about the case of fatally shot army
cadet Grant Bain with Defence Minister Mark Burton two years ago. But a spokesperson for
the minister is adamant he never received a letter from Mr Ardern and that
the MP never asked Mr Burton a question in the House about the issue. Grant Bain was a
17-year-old cadet when he was fatally shot by a fellow cadet in the barracks
at the army's Waiouru Cadet School in 1981. Cadet Corporal Andrew
William Read (17) pleaded guilty to the careless use of a firearm causing
death and was fined $200 and ordered to 200 hours' community work. Mr Burton has this week
ordered a preliminary inquiry into allegations of abuse after a report by a
former cadet said there was
widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse of cadets at the Waiouru
Cadet School during the 1960s to 1980s. Mr Ardern, who has been
working on the case with Grant Bain's Te Awamutu family, said yesterday he
took all this information about the Bain case to Mr Burton two years ago. He
wrote to him and made a personal submission to him in the House. "He came back to
me, as he did with Ron Mark (NZ First MP), who also made a separate inquiry
around the same time, and said, `Look, this is 21 years ago, there doesn't
seem to be any new evidence that's of any relevance today, so therefore we
don't consider pursuing this any further as being fruitful'." He said he was told
that the Bain family had been dealt with fairly. "I totally
disagree with that. The Bain family weren't dealt with fairly, in fact they
were lied to." A spokesperson for Mr
Burton's office yesterday was adamant that neither the minister nor the
Defence Ministry had any record of ever receiving a letter from the MP,
though it had received one from another MP about the same time. "We automatically
acknowledge every letter we receive." In addition, a search
of oral and written parliamentary questions had found Mr Ardern had never
asked Mr Burton a question, she said. "I would be very
interested to know where he is getting the idea the minister flicked him off,
because quite simply everything I can find does not back that up." Meanwhile, Mr Ardern
said the original army inquiry into the shooting was "lacking in
substance. All in all, very shoddy procedure and the family have sort of been
left hanging out to dry ever since". A court case into the
incident took place three days after the shooting, on the day of Grant Bain's
funeral, so none of the family was there to hear the evidence and they never
had access to it, he said. Over the last two
decades the Bain family had received bits and pieces of information from
Grant Bain's former colleagues, which had caused them a lot of concern, Mr
Ardern said. It was only through
requests by himself and the family to the Ombudsman that they obtained the
information they had to date, he said. "For example, the
report they were given said Grant Bain was shot in the barracks, he was
loaded into an ambulance and transported to Waiouru Hospital where he later
died. "In fact, what
happened was, he was shot, first of all he was visited by a first aid person,
not a doctor, secondly by the army doctor and he died 20 minutes later in the
same barracks and his body laid there for some hours." Mr Ardern said he was
hopeful they were now getting somewhere. "As soon as it's
parliamentary possible to do so, I will ask the minister, `will this inquiry
include the tragic circumstances around the Bain case and, if not, why
not?'." |
