PM backs Benson-Pope over shower girls' claims

David Benson-Pope

Prime Minister Helen Clark was last night standing by besieged Cabinet minister David Benson-Pope after allegations that he burst into female dormitories and showers while 14-year-old girls were undressed.

The claims, which Mr Benson-Pope calls "a nonsense", have sparked fresh calls for his sacking.

Four former students of Bayfield High School in Dunedin, where Mr Benson-Pope taught for 24 years, allege he burst into female dormitories and showers without warning while 14-year-old girls were undressed in 1997 at a school camp.

Jill Allan, the mother of one of the students, Rachel Davie, said she formally complained to the school after the shower incident but says it was never properly investigated.

The principal at Bayfield at the time, Bruce Leadbetter, did not return the Herald's calls. He also refused to discuss the claims with Investigate magazine, which published them on its website.

There is also an allegation that Mr Benson-Pope struck a girl on the thigh with a ruler and threw dusters at students.

Mr Benson-Pope said the claims were "a nonsense".

When the Herald sought clarification of what he meant by "a nonsense", the Social Development Minister said: "If you read the statement it is pretty clear by my understanding of English. I have nothing to add."

Helen Clark said, through a spokesman, that the police had investigated allegations around Mr Benson-Pope last year and as far as she was concerned the matter had ended.

Those police investigations centred on allegations that Mr Benson-Pope taped a student's hands to a desk and jammed a tennis ball in his mouth, and that he struck another student on the face while teaching in the early 1980s. The investigation did not cover the latest allegations.

The police found there was a prima facie case but chose not to prosecute because of the historical nature of the offences.

It is understood that Labour does not consider the latest allegations to be any more serious than those investigated last year, and has decided to "tough it out" until the row dies down.

Support for the minister came last night from fellow teachers.

Brian Pickard, who still teaches at Bayfield, said the school had a clear policy that male teachers did not go into the girls' dormitory.

"It is just not credible that David would have gone into a girls' dormitory," he said.

"It is 20 seconds in the sun for people who are less than credible," he said of the allegations.

Another teacher , who did not want to be named, said if Mr Benson-Pope had given the girls a hurry-up it would probably have been to ensure there was time for safety checks.

"The one who goes to do the hurry-up is the one with the biggest voice, the boss," she said.

She did not believe the incidents happened.

National Party welfare spokeswoman Judith Collins said Mr Benson-Pope needed to front up and say whether it happened.

"What he hasn't done is deny it. He has said it is nonsense, but that is just the spin word." Ms Collins said walking into a girls' shower or changing room was "totally inappropriate".

Act Party leader Rodney Hide said Mr Benson-Pope should be stood down from the Cabinet while the allegations were investigated.

If the allegations are true, Mr Benson-Pope might have misled Parliament when he said in May last year: "I have not been guilty of, or involved in, any inappropriate behaviour in my 24 years as a secondary school teacher. As well, I am not aware of any complaint of any kind."

Yesterday, Mr Benson-Pope's office distributed a letter from a former Bayfield student, Adrienne Martin, in which she said she was on the 1997 camp and did not believe the events occurred.

When the alleged events occurred at the Tautuku outdoor recreation centre in the Catlins there was no universal code of conduct governing teachers' behaviour.

The principal of Bayfield High, Denis Slowley, said a male teacher walking into a female changing room was not only inappropriate, it was serious misconduct and the offending teacher would be disciplined.