The New Zealand Defence
Force has admitted failing to ensure the safety of its employees
following the 2010 Anzac Day helicopter crash.
Sole
survivor Sergeant Stevin Creeggan was granted leave to take a private
prosecution against the Defence Force for failing to ensure employees
were not exposed to hazards from the operation of helicopters while at
work. Three others died in the crash.
The
Defence Force was convicted as it pleadguilty to the charge at the
Wellington District Court this afternoon before Judge William Hastings.
The
maximum penalty for the charge is a $250,000 fine, however Crown
organisations are immune to being fined by the courts. Instead, the
Defence Force was ordered to pay $20,000 in reparations to each of the
four victims' families.
Judge Hastings said the
reparation figure was symbolic and "is in effect a tangible
demonstration of a willingness to make amends for harm done, rather than
a crude valuation of a life lost".
Sgt Creeggan's case is believed to be the first successful private prosecution under the Health and Safety in Employment Act.
His
lawyer Tim McKenzie says Sgt Creeggan is not seeking reparation so
there is no financial motivation for his client. Sgt Creeggan did not
want others to endure what he and the victims' families have been
through.
Instead, the sentencing served four
purposes – to hold the defence force accountable for its actions, to
denounce the offending, deter future offending as well as possible
reparation for the other victims, Mr McKenzie says.
He
believed the Defence Force had high culpability in the accident and if
it was subject to a fine, he would argue for one at the "high end" of
the scale.
Sgt Creeggan was one of four men on
board the Iroquios helicopter which crashed in poor weather conditions
near Pukerua Bay, en route from Ohakea, to Wellington to take part in an
Anzac Day flypast.
The Iriquois was one of
three making the journey from Ohakea. Court documents show if the
helicopter had its radar altimeter set to the required 200ft rather than
50ft the crew a warning alarm would have given the crew 19 seconds
notice before impact rather than the estimated half a second.
The
court also heard how some of the crew were not adequately trained for
the flight and planning focused more on the flypast rather than getting
to the Anzac Day ceremony.
Captain Flight
Lieutenant Hayden Madsen, 33, and co-pilot Flying Officer Dan Gregory,
28, and crewman Corporal Ben Carson, 25, were killed in the crash, while
Sgt Creeggan was seriously injured.
Sgt
Creeggan was at the crash site for an hour-and-a-half hours, before he
was rescued and taken to hospital where his long journey to recovery
began.
In court this afternoon, he recounted
the crash as well as the long list of surgeries he'd faced since the
incident and his problems in doing simple day-to-day things.
"It destroyed my career in the Defence Force, and completely turned my life upside down," he said.
Defence
Force lawyer Nigel Lucie-Smith said the organisation accepted
responsibility for failing to prevent the accident and "unreservedly
apologised" to the victims' families and Sgt Creeggan as well as the New
Zealand public.
"No one anticipated three of our colleagues, our workmates, our friends would not come home that Anzac morning," he said.
"We
failed to prevent this tragedy and we failed our people. The only
amends the Defence Force can make to is to make sure lessons of this
tragedy never go away."
He conceded the Defence
Force has "some work to do" in terms of re-establishing trust with the
victims' families. Mr Lucie-Smith accepted the Defence Force had high
culpability for the accident.
However, the
Defence Force had already made formal written apologies and offers of
amends to the families of the three killed. This included $70,000 to
each family as well as a funeral grant.
The
Defence Force had also paid all of Sgt Creeggan's medical costs, 100
percent of his salary while he was off work and a formal written apology
from the chief of defence.
Wide-ranging changes are also being made to Defence Force procedures as a result of the crash, Mr Lucie-Smith says.
In sentencing, Judge Hastings commended Sgt Creeggan's decision to take the prosecution.
"You
are proof that one person can make a difference. You have managed to
create a silver lining from an unimaginable tragedy that has seared
itself into the nation's psyche."
He also
commended the Defence Force for taking steps to make changes to limit
the possibility of a similar accident happening again.
In November last year, Sgt Creeggan was granted extra time to take bring the private prosecution.
Judge
Hastings, who made the ruling, says Sgt Creeggan's physical and
psychological injuries alone "made it unreasonable to have expected him
to have commenced a private prosecution within six months of the
accident".
The Act requires prosecutions to be brought within six months of the incident.
The Iroquois are currently being phased out and replaced by eight NH90 helicopters with the last to be retired next year.
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