Serious Allegations At Court-martial
Per Pres#» Association. AUCKLAND, Feb. 26. Major llamuera Paul Te Punga, of a Maori Battalion in the Ist New Zealand Division, was acquitted to-day by a general court-martial on three charges, (1) ill-treating a Maori soldier, Private Seagar Kirkwood, on various dates between October 18 and November 13, 1942, by (a) handcuffing him and keeping him handcuffed for long periods by day and by night; (b) attaching him by handcuffs to such; fixed objects as the pole of a tent, electric light pole and a tree, (c) allowing him to have only bread and water; (2) conduct to the prejudice of good order and discipline by unlawfully punishing Kirkwood on variou* occasions between October 18 and November 6 without trial for refusing to perform defaulters’ duties while under close arrest; and (3) unlawful punishment on various occasions between November 6 and November. 13 while Kirkwood was under sentence of detention for having absented himsell without leave.
Major Te Punga served in Greeca and Crete, was mentioned in dispatches* wounded, and returned to New Zealand, and again posted to a Maori Battalion. •
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Bibliographic details
Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 50, 1 March 1943, Page 4
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185Serious Allegations At Court-martial Manawatu Times, Volume 68, Issue 50, 1 March 1943, Page 4
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