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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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An Auckland man who
claims he was beaten about the testicles with spoons at the Army's former
cadet school says it is only thanks to sperm donors that he has children. The 48-year-old, who
will for his children's sake be identified only by his first name of Ray,
told the Herald he was attacked by four senior cadets in retribution for
winning a "grudge" boxing fight against another youth at Waiouru in
1973. He is the third former
cadet within a week to complain about having been left infertile by violence
there that year. He said he was attacked while doing his washing during a
long weekend when the school's barracks were largely deserted, and hit on the
testicles four or five times. He does not recall
being in much pain, but said a medical specialist he saw when he found he
could not have children told him the attack was a likely reason for his
infertility. The man said it was
only through assisted reproduction that he was now the father of two
children, aged five and 10. He said it was the only
time at the cadet school that he was physically attacked, although he saw
many others being bullied such as being subjected to hot and cold showers,
and scrubbed with a yard broom. He was also among
junior cadets who were confined to a narrow corridor in which windows and
doors were closed before they were all ordered to smoke cigarettes, to the
point that two collapsed. But the man said he
otherwise enjoyed his time at cadet school, and went on to serve 20 years in
the Army until 1993, although he would co-operate with a Government inquiry
into bullying if called on. Rotorua man Bert
Robinson, 48, who joined the cadet school in 1973, said last week he was so
badly assaulted by eight of his seniors that his scrotum swelled to the size
of a small rugby ball before he passed out on parade and woke up in hospital. He was medically
discharged after recuperating, but held in military police cells "for my
own protection" before leaving Waiouru. He said he discovered years
later that both his hips had been broken while he struggled against his
assailants. He and a cadet who
attended the school in 1965, Ronald Ramsdale of Orewa, believe they were left
sterile from the violence there. |
