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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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The sun was shining on
Ronald Ramsdale's caravan at Puriri Park in Orewa yesterday afternoon. In October last year
when he became the face of the Waiouru Army cadet scandal it was pouring with
rain. The 57-year-old was
crying, staring at a photo of himself as a 16-year-old. Looking back was a
scared boy with the words "I am dirty foul stinking" scrawled
across his body. They were put there by
cadet non-commissioned officers (NCOs), who it has now been confirmed were
part of a culture of bullying at the school. Yesterday an inquiry
into allegations of abuse at the Army's former cadet training school in
Waiouru was released, and while Mr Ramsdale says it does not go far enough,
the words to describe the abuse he suffered over 18 months at the school now
come easier. "I can talk about
it now. I don't like it but I can talk about it now, but it brings it all
back," Mr Ramsdale says. The inquiry, by High
Court Judge David Morris, found bullying like that suffered by Mr Ramsdale
took place but there was no culture of violence. "It was a bastard
of a place." His picture, published
by the Weekend Herald, has had cadets from years before contact him to tell
him their stories. "Everybody recognises me but I don't recognise
them." The inquiry was
important he says, but it has left him feeling those in charge have not
acknowledged the full extent of what happened. There is no
compensation. He says he has sent all
his information to a lawyer in the hope of taking his case further. He claims he is sterile
after one incident where cadet NCOs rolled up a wet towel and hit his penis
repeatedly with it. He still wears the
thick glasses like those in the photo. The NCOs broke them three times. He says his time at the
school changed his life. He struggled to trust people, could not hold down
jobs and did not have many friends. "Since it came out
things keep coming back to me." He was dragged from hot
showers to cold ones, scrubbed down with a brush still covered in boot
polish. On some days and nights
he tried to hide in the hospital base to avoid the abuse. He could not cry
because they just beat him harder. "They say it
happened right? But what about those people that did it and knew about it?
What are they going to do about it?" |
