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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Two former Army cadets
have complained of being sodomised at Waiouru, including one who says he was
pack-raped six times in the 1960s. The man told the Herald
last night that he reported to the Waiouru military hospital the day after
being raped the first time by five senior cadets as he was left bleeding. But he was turned away
by a senior cadet being groomed for the medical corps. "He said to me:
'You'll get over it - go back to your company'." His allegations, and those
of another man who has complained of rape, have been sent by former cadet Ian
Fraser to Defence Minister Mark Burton for urgent police action. Mr Fraser said from
Perth yesterday that he had received complaints of brutality from about 300
former teenage trainees of the cadet school, which operated from 1948 to
1991, and was collating these for an inquiry promised this week by the
minister. But he sent the two
rape complaints ahead of the main dossier because of their extreme nature. He was reluctant to
disclose any details of the second complaint, because of the victim's fragile
state. "We are getting
guys who went on to become war heroes - one has been mentioned in dispatches
and there are former members of the SAS among the victims," he said. "People say these
guys are wimps, but they are not wimps, one served with the 22 SAS [British
elite regiment]. They are telling me the SAS selection process was a cakewalk
compared with their time in the cadets." The man who complained
of pack rape, which he says began two months after he joined the school at
16, alleges his recruit intake was initiated on arrival by being hosed down
with fire hoses by senior cadets before being made to scrub barrack floors
for six hours. The man, now
approaching 60, told the Herald it was mainly the same group of five senior
cadets involved in each offence. He believed they singled him out for
refusing to participate in the abuse of others. They allegedly boasted
to him of raping two other cadets in his year. He refused to take part
because of being abused earlier in life, and joined the Army to escape his
past. "My crime was that
I wouldn't do as they ordered - but I am proud of the fact I graduated from
the cadets and never ever did anything abusive to anyone else." The year-long ordeal
"screwed up" his life, although not to the point of being unable to
father children, unlike another former cadet who says he was left sterile
from being beaten about the scrotum. Although he does not
yet want to be identified, he said he would testify to a Government inquiry
if one was set up at arm's length from the Army and Defence Force. He said he would not
trust the Army "to clean out a dustbin" let alone hold an impartial
investigation, as some perpetrators later rose to high rank and might still
be serving officers. An Army court of
inquiry into the shooting death of a former cadet, Grant Bain, by another
trainee in 1981 blamed a lack of resources for inadequate supervision by
regular force officers. But the man said the officers
must have known about the brutality, when confronted by morning line-ups of
half a dozen cadets covered in bruises and sporting black eyes. A spokeswoman for the
minister confirmed receiving two emails from Mr Fraser, but would not say
whether any information had yet been referred to police. She said Mr Burton had
consulted Attorney-General Margaret Wilson over general concerns Mr Fraser
and other former cadets had raised about the training school. Although they were
still considering options for an inquiry for which the Defence Force has
started laying the ground, the inquiry would remain under the minister's
direction. One man's charges The former Army cadet
alleges: * He was stripped naked
at the point of a bayonet held under his chin while his genitals were
interfered with. * Was made to stand
naked on a snowy winter's night for 30 minutes in a mountain stream. * Was stripped naked by
nine cadets, held down on a concrete floor and scrubbed with a yard broom. * Had a broom handle
"used on my rear end so often I lost count". |
