Son’s treatment unfair-parents

Press, 28 February 1984, Page 1

Son’s treatment unfair-parents

PA Masterton The parents of Bruce Douglas Cameron, the Oakley Hospital escaper who has threatened to release a cannister of nerve gas, blame his behaviour on bad treatment at the hands of the police, Mr and Mrs Bruce Cameron, of Masterton, said yesterday that the first they knew of their son’s threats was when detectives called at their home asking questions. “They wanted an assurance from us that if he turned up or contacted us we would let the police know,” said Mrs Vera

Cameron. “Of course I had to promise that, but I just hope he does not come here. This is a small town and he is very recognisable." The Camerons say their son has not been given a fair time by the police and that it is police treatment that caused “Joe,” as he is known, to make threats. Mrs Cameron last saw her son in late November at Auckland’s Mount Eden prison, where he was on remand awaiting trial on charges of possessing and making' the drug, Angel Dust. “He had been beaten up. He was in an awful state

and not feeling at all happy. As to why he got transferred to Oakley Hospital, well, we have never been told,” Mrs Cameron said. The Camerons say their son is brilliant and has two degrees, one in, electronics and one in chemistry. “As far as we know, he got them in Auckland,” said Mrs Cameron. (In Auckland last evening, however, Auckland University officials said they had no file on Cameron and said he had never been enrolled at the university.)

Joe Cameron was last in Masterton to see his parents about 18 months ago. Since

then he has remained in regular touch with them. “He rings us about every six weeks,” said Mrs Cameron. “He never writes, he only rings.” The latest incident involving their son has shocked the Camerons. They say they would like to help, but feel any television pleas or public appeals to their son would go unheeded. “He does not watch television anyway, so he would not even see it,” said Mr Cameron. “All we know is for him to have done what he has done he must be desperate. It is all verv sad. iust verv

sad,” said Mrs Cameron. “He will be 33 soon, and at that age what can we do?” Cameron spent his childhood in Masterton. He went to Rathkeale College from 1965 to 1967, but left after two terms in his last year because of ill health. The headmaster of Rathkeale College, Mr J. S. Taylor, said he did not recall Cameron as a pupil with outstanding abilities, and the college had no record of his university achievements. The college normally kept such a record.