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Lawyer Rob Moodie is demanding a Commission of Inquiry over the collapse of an Army-built bridge which killed one man and ruined the lives of the elderly couple whose farm it led to.
Beekeeper Ken Richards died when the Te Rata Station bridge collapsed on March 22, 1994, as he drove over it in his truck.
Keith and Margaret Berryman, who owned the King Country farm the bridge led to, have been fighting for compensation ever since and made several unsuccessful attempts to negotiate for compensation from the Government.
During that time, they were also charged by OSH for not ensuring Richards' safety at work. Shortly after the tragedy their house was torched and burnt to the ground. The OSH charges were eventually thrown out of court but the costs of the fight to clear their names resulted in the loss of their farm.
Now living in Wanganui, the Berrymans have "reluctantly" accepted a $150,000 Government compensation settlement.
"These people are in their 80s now, they're frail, are financially insecure and the whole thing is just shocking," said their current lawyer Simon Gale.
"It's totally unsatisfactory. There's a general feeling that these people have been shafted."
Gale said the Government offer of $150,000 was a "take it or leave it" one, which the Berrymans had agreed to "reluctantly".
Moodie, who earlier represented the couple, last night described their treatment and eventual compensation as "appalling".
He is now preparing a formal complaint to Police Commissioner Howard Broad, as well as pushing for charges of criminal negligence to be laid against senior figures in the Ministry of Defence.
"I will give the police the opportunity of doing the job properly. But if they find themselves unable ... I will assist them," Moodie said.
"I will be asking for an inquiry and prosecutions of those involved. I will be making my own complaint to the police about the criminal negligence that cost Mr Richards his life.
"My work will go on until there has been a proper acknowledgement by the Crown that the standard of construction of the bridge was unsatisfactory, an expression of regret for what happened, a proper inquiry and if necessary prosecution."
Construction of the bridge was completed on March 22, 1986 – eight years to the day before its collapse.
Built as part of a training exercise, it was designed and engineered by a NZ Army Engineering Corps lieutenant – who also supervised its construction by army staff.
"The bridge was not built to anything like an acceptable engineering standard," Moodie said.
"Everything they could have done wrong, they did wrong, even down to approving materials that were totally unsuitable.
"This was not just a bridge accessing a farm property. This was a bridge connected to the public roading network. You or I could have been going over into that property.
"A few weeks before, a busload of wedding guests went across in a mini-van. We could have had a major tragedy."
Moodie said he did not want to appear to be blaming the Engineering Corps lieutentant for the tragedy.
"I don't blame the young engineering officer involved at all," Moodie said.
"He wasn't a qualified engineer. He was put in charge of something that he had neither the experience nor qualification to handle.
"Some of his superiors had to know that there were serious problems. They did nothing."
Moodie was threatened with contempt of court after publishing an engineering report commissioned by the Army that was highly critical of the bridge's design.
The Butcher Report – completed by civil engineer George Butcher – questioned the designer's technical qualification and experience and said the bridge's design and calculations were botched.
Moodie said his submission to Broad – which will call for a full Royal Commission of Inquiry – would include the Butcher Report, exerpts from the Army Court of Inquiry's own report that labelled the design as "unsatisfactory".
The army's former lawyer Chris McGuire, now a District Court judge, staunchly defended the Army's work on the bridge during a 1997 coroner's hearing. Since then, evidence the Army provided its own counsel has been brought into question.
"The justice system, the judiciary, the police [and] the lawyers involved have got nothing to be proud of. And now we have the Crown coming out with a pathetic settlement, because that is what it is," Moodie said.
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