Dead man’s mother alleges cover-up

Press, 1 June 1984, Page 3

Dead man’s mother alleges cover-up

PA Auckland The mother of a young Royal New Zealand’ Air Force aircraftman who died from heat stroke after a compulsory training run says she is “sickened" by the affair and has accused the military of a "cover-up" over her son’s death. “I want to make them pay. I want to hurt them,” Mrs Denise McDougall said from her Pahiatua home. “We will do our best to make sure they don’t get away with it.” The Chief of the General Staff, Major-General Robin Williams, has ordered the reconvening of an Army court of inquiry into the death of the aircraftman, Damon Craig McDougall, aged 20. This follows up the comments of the Auckland Coroner, Mr A. D. Copeland, who said at Mr McDougall’s inquest this week that he was disturbed that wardens at the Services Corrective Establishment at Ardmore did not notice from Mr McDougall’s condition that something was wrong. The Coroner’s Court was told that during the run Mr McDougall fell three times, groaned once when helped to his feet, often raised his eyes towards the sky, and

sweated profusely. Mrs McDougall said yesterday, “It just is not good enough. We have thought from the beginning that the military have been hiding something ... we hardly knew anything about what happened until we heard it at the inquest. “I doubt if we will be allowed to, but we are going to try to sit in on the new Army inquiry. It seems that would be the only way we would get the truth." Mrs McDougall said that she and her husband were informed of her son’s condition on the day he collapsed. They were flown to Auckland in a military aircraft. “We were at his bedside when he died in Auckland Hospital,” she said. “Craig was sent to Ardmore because of an incident at the Christmas break-up party at Ohakea air base. He had too much to drink and ripped some telephones out of their sockets. “He came home on leave but the Air Force left his punishment until after Christmas. He was sick with worry right through the break." Mrs McDougall said that her lawyer had told her there might be little more she could do to investigate

her son’s death. “We might never know, and that sickens me," she said. The Army public relations spokesman. Major Michael Wicksteed, said that as was usual practice, the second court of inquiry adjourned itself to await evidence and the finding from the Coroner’s inquest The court would have reconvened in any case. Its findings would be forwarded to Major-General Williams, who would take any action he considered appropriate. Major Wicksteed said it was wrong to describe the run as a "forced" run. It was a compulsory run—meaning that a man who became sick or badly discomforted would not be forced to continue. Major Wicksteed said the Ministry of Defence acknowledged that there appeared to have been a lack of communication with Mr and Mrs McDougall over the progress of the military inquiries, and this was being looked into. There had been no military “cover-up,” he said. Major Wicksteed said the results of the court of inquiry would be released publicly.