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Allegations
of Abuse in Institutions |
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Wellington: Bullying
and serious sexual assaults took place at an army training school, but there
was no culture of violence there, an inquiry into abuse there has found. The inquiry also found
that an army cadet who killed a fellow cadet at the Waiouru training school
in 1981 should have been charged with manslaughter. The inquiry into
several abuse allegations at the school between 1948 and 1991 says other
complainants should take their cases to the police. Defence Minister Phil
Goff was cool to the idea of compensation for victims and said those who
wanted to take the matter further should lay a criminal complaint. The review by former
High Court judge David Morris also looked at events surrounding the 1981
killing of Cadet Grant Bain, who was shot by another cadet. Justice Morris found
that Cadet Corporal Andrew Read, the man who shot Bain, should have been
charged with manslaughter, and that the army and the police did not handle
the case well. Mr Goff said he would
be talking to Mr Bain’s family, who are seeking an apology, costs and
compensation. Justice Morris found
that there was a lack of monitoring in the barracks and there was “a real
possibility” the fatal shooting could have been prevented. Mr Bain was 17 years
old and had only been a cadet for three weeks when he was killed by Read. Justice Morris said
there had been no collusion between the army and the police over the charge
to which Read pleaded guilty — carelessly discharging a firearm causing death
— but the police had not used the appropriate charge. Justice Morris believed
Read would have been imprisoned for four years if the more serious charge of
manslaughter had been laid. The army should also
have used internal disciplinary measures against the corporal and had also misinformed
the Bain family about the shooting. Read died in 1998 in a
forestry accident on the West Coast, aged 35. The inquiry was ordered
after a former Waiouru cadet, Ian Fraser, claimed in October last year there
had been widespread physical, psychological and sexual abuse of cadets as
young as 15 at the school from the 1960s to the 1980s. Justice Morris
interviewed 81 former cadets and 114 people in the course of his inquiry. He was told of forced
showers, cadets being scrubbed with floor brushes, beatings, kickings,
extortion, the striking of testicles with spoons, the covering of cadets’
penises with boot polish and general bullying and intimidation. Nine cases of sexual
assault were brought to the inquiry’s attention, but Justice Morris said the
suggestion of widespread sexual abuse was “totally without foundation”. Any sexual assault
complaints had been treated seriously and acted on at the time, and the army
had tried to “stamp out” bullying. Mr Goff said the review
did not seek to establish the facts around individual abuse claims, and said
those seeking closure on their bullying could go the police or lay a formal
complaint with the army. Mr Goff indicated that
apart from the Bain family, the Government was not looking at compensation. He said those who did
seek compensation would have little chance of success in a civil action
because of the historic nature of the allegations. It was possible those
suffering from trauma could seek compensation from ACC or under the War
Pensions Act. The Chief of the
Defence Force, Air Marshall Bruce Ferguson, said the report was thorough and
balanced. |
