An incident at Masterton's recreation centre pools involving two boys, the father of one and staff, along with allegations of bullying, neglect and threats to call police, has been resolved.
Masterton Mayor Garry Daniell yesterday confirmed an internal investigation had been conducted into claims by the father of a 9-year-old boy that his son had been grabbed by an older boy and held underwater and that staff had turned a blind eye.
The man had been at the pools with his son on Friday and claimed an older boy had blocked his son and refused to move when asked.
Staff did nothing when approached, the father said, so his son pushed the older boy into the water before leaping off the platform himself.
The father said when both boys were in the water, the older one prevented his son from surfacing for air.
The father then demanded staff take action, but claimed they did not.
Mr Daniell said the allegation reached council committee level this week, but he had stopped discussion as the matter had been investigated and resolved internally.
Incident reports from staff and supervisors refuted the father's version of events.
A lifeguard said the younger boy had earlier been warned to stay off lane ropes which he had been ''persistently holding''. The lifeguard saw the altercation and claimed the younger boy was actually the instigator.
Both boys had been taken from the pool and reprimanded by an after-school care programme assistant.
Another staff member said she had told the father, who had been ''aggressive and antagonistic'' towards her, that her inquiries had found his son had clearly been the protagonist.
The man had repeatedly waved his finger in her face and his ''verbal aggression'' continued to the stage where she told him if he did not stop the police would be summoned.
He had then left, threatening to contact the district council.
Mr Daniell said parks and reserves manager Grant Hathaway's investigation found the younger boy had been acting in an antisocial way and had to be spoken to several times by lifeguards. Finally, after ''pushing and kicking at another child'', he had been taken from the pool and this had caused his father to confront staff, he said.
Mr Hathaway was satisfied with the pool staff's actions and proposed to contact the boy's father and explain how the investigation had panned out.
Mr Daniell said having received all the reports, he was sure the incident had been thoroughly investigated without any bias shown to either party and there was no need to have the manner discussed further.
Pool staff cleared in bullying inquiry
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