With the allegations made by a former flatmate unproven, MP Sam Uffindell has been welcomed back into the National Party caucus.
Video / Mark Mitchell
King's College has invited former students back to the Auckland school to talk about their bullying experiences after the Sam Uffindell scandal earlier this year.
Uffindell, who won Tauranga's byelection earlier this year, was stood down from the National Party caucus on August 9 after two allegations of bullying andintimidatory behaviour in his youth surfaced.
The new MP was asked to leave King's when he was 16 after being involved in the beating of a fellow student at one the school's boarding houses in 1999.
In a statement to the school community, Simon Power, Chairman of the Board of Governors at King's College, said that they acknowledge that among their Old Collegian community, there are those who suffered bullying.
He also maintained the school has made significant strides over many years to improve the culture at King's and to encourage student wellbeing and argued the efforts have already been effective.
As a part of these efforts, King's College is inviting former students to speak about their own experiences with bullying at the school.
"There are many reasons why this invitation is important, including assisting in the healing of Old Collegians and to ensure the College learns lessons, so that these situations will not be a repeated experience of current or future students at the College", Power said.
"King's College is genuine in this invitation and welcomes any Old Collegian to come forward if they have anything that they would like to talk about from their time at King's College."
The King's College gates in Ōtāhuhu. Photo / NZ Herald
In August, Stuff revealed Uffindell, when a year 11 student at the exclusive Auckland school, and three others jumped on a then 13-year-old boy and began beating him with what the victim believed was an unscrewed wooden bed legs.
It reportedly left the victim with severe bruising and significant trauma.
"It was one of the silliest, stupidest things I've ever done. I really regretted it, and I do really regret it still," Uffindell said at the time.
Following the story, RNZ rreported another set of allegations of bullying and intimidatory behaviour from a former flatmate of Uffindell while the pair were living in Dunedin while attending university.
The woman claimed Uffindell was an aggressive bully who once pounded on her bedroom door, screaming obscenities until she fled through her window.
An independent report by Maria Dew KC into the allegations, however, against Uffindell exonerated the Tauranga MP of the Otago flatting claims - and he was reinstated to National's caucus.
The investigation, which was not fully released, did not substantiate any allegations of bullying outside of Uffindell's time at King's College, the National Party said.
