Aramoana: aiding the victims?
Time is catching up on a fund designed to ease the pain for survivors of the Aramoana massacre. But critics say donors’ final wishes are being overlooked. Chris Morris investigates.
CHIQUITA Holden does not want to see any more hurt in the place she still calls home.
The 36yearold is a child of Aramoana and a survivor of its darkest day, when gunman David Gray claimed the lives of 13 people on November 13, 1990.
Ms Holden survived being shot, but lost two of those closest to her — her father, Garry, and sister, Jasmine.
But Ms Holden has managed to rebuild her life in the renewed tranquillity of the Otago Harbour settlement.
And despite a move to Wellington earlier this year, where she works for Victim Support, Ms Holden says Aramoana will always be ‘‘deeply in my heart’’.
‘‘Everybody who lives in Aramoana loves the place. I love it. It’s a place I’ll always call home.’’
It was a healing process helped in part by the Aramoana Relief Trust fund, which for more than 26 years has been dispensing financial aid to Aramoana’s victims and their families, including Ms Holden.
But now, as the trustees prepared to wind up the fund, Ms Holden feared the spirit in which donors came to Aramoana’s aid was being overlooked.
The fund still held $47,000, but time was catching up on the surviving trustees, who wanted out, trust chairman and former city councillor Paul Hudson said.
They planned to divide the money equally between three final recipients — the Aramoana wharf restoration project, the Aramoana League and Victim Support Otago.
The wharf rebuild remained contentious, and the Aramoana League’s share could pay for a project like a new hall roof.
Ms Holden said the projects did not respect donors’ original intentions and some victims’ needs were being overlooked.
‘‘It’s not that I particularly disagree with the wharf or the league, or whatever. The league do some great things for the community and I have personally donated to the wharf.
‘‘It’s actually just about the spirit in which that money was donated. It needs to go to the same thing,’’ she told ODT Insight.
It was a view backed by Aramoana residents Adrian Hall and Bradley Curnow, both vocal critics of the wharf project.
‘‘Surely the people of New Zealand gave generously to support the victims of the Aramoana tragedy, not to support a new jetty?’’ Mr Curnow said.
But the concerns were dismissed by Mr Hudson and fellow trustee John Davis, of Aramoana, who said the timing was right and their consciences were clear.
The fund was launched days after the Aramoana massacre by thenmayor Richard Walls, and raised about $300,000 from across New Zealand.
The aim was to support victims and families affected by the tragedy, as well as rehabilitate the area, Mr Walls said at the time.
But, after more than 26 years, dwindling calls for help and the death of Mr Walls and two other trustees, the fund’s time was up, Mr Hudson told ODT Insight.
‘‘There’s no way it can go on forever, because we’re all going to be dead,’’ he said.
The trustees wrote to Aramoana ratepayers last year, asking for submissions on how to use the remaining money.
About 40 submissions were received, and, although he would not release copies, Mr Hudson said the wharf project had been a favourite.
The recipients were announced at a community meeting in Aramoana last October.
Mr Hudson said he had his doubts either project was the right choice for the funds, ‘‘but that’s what the community suggested’’.
The money was to be distributed by December 31, but that was delayed after Ms Holden raised concerns.
She met Mr Hudson and questioned the lack of consultation with victims and whether donors’ intentions were being respected.
Ms Holden wanted the money to provide directly for victims, but said she was speaking as a survivor and not because of her role with Victim Support.
‘‘All I want is for the generosity of donations to be honoured in the most appropriate way, whether that is for the people affected by Aramoana who have a current need, or for people affected by events of a similar nature.’’
In midDecember, she offered to collate victims’ contact details and forward them to the trustees, and was given until January 8 to do so.
But Ms Holden, after speaking to key people, then suggested an independent person should contact victims, not the trustees, to ensure an ‘‘inclusive and sensitive approach’’.
Mr Hudson disagreed and the trust pressed on with its original plans, she said.
Mr Hudson told ODT Insight the trust had initially made only limited efforts to contact victims, many of whom had moved away, because ‘‘our focus was not directed at the victims’’.
‘‘Our focus was directed at the people of Aramoana,’’ he said.
After hearing Ms Holden’s concerns, trustees agreed ‘‘it would be appropriate’’ to try to contact more victims, he said.
After Ms Holden decided not to deliver contact details, the trust made its own attempts, and spoke to ‘‘senior family figures’’ linked to the tragedy, he said.
While not all had been contacted, those who were ‘‘are not expressing the same concern’’, he said.
One person had requested more money for counselling, ‘‘and we immediately . . . agreed to that’’, he said.
But, while the fund was primarily for victims, donors — including his own family — had given ‘‘significant’’ sums to support the wider community, he said.
The money would now be distributed tomorrow, and trustees ‘‘are not likely to change those decisions at this stage’’, he said.
‘‘We are honouring the intent of donors. That’s the role the trust has clearly had, and has fulfilled, for 26 years.’’
That angered Adrian Hall, who questioned apparent conflicts between the fund’s trustees and its final recipients.
Mr Davis, a fund trustee, was also the Aramoana League’s secretary, while Mr Hudson was the league’s auditor.
The league also started the initial push to rebuild the Aramoana wharf, and resident Bill Brown was both league president and a member of the wharf restoration trust.
The trustees’ decision to wind up the fund, just when the wharf trust needed money, was ‘‘a remarkable coincidence’’, Mr Hall said.
Mr Hudson denied any conflict, saying Mr Davis had sat back from decisionmaking on the fund’s final payout.
Mr Hudson, an accountant, said his own role as the league’s auditor was ‘‘a 10minute job every year’’.
Mr Davis also insisted he had also acted in good faith throughout his time as a trustee.
‘‘It hasn’t been an easy task, ever. It certainly wasn’t one I wished to be on, but I was asked and did the job as best as I could, along with the other trustees.
‘‘My conscience is clear.’’ Ms Holden said consultation with victims was still needed.
It was no surprise submissions favoured the wharf, when only
Aramoana ratepayers were contacted.
Some victims, particularly younger ones, could still relive the experience as adults, but were not being given a voice.
‘‘While 26 years may seem a long time, it feels like only yesterday for those most affected.’’
The money could be of ‘‘significant’’ help to victims in the future and if trustees wanted out, new ones should be found, she said.
‘‘People donated money for people, not for a wharf 26 years later.’’
She had contacted council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose, the Office of the Ombudsman and sought legal advice, in an attempt to challenge the trustees’ decision.
She was yet to receive a ruling from the Ombudsman, and was still considering legal options, but continued to disagree with the trust’s actions.
Council chief executive Dr Sue Bidrose said the trustees had ‘‘acted in good faith for a long time’’, but the council could assume direct control with trustees’ approval.
Mr Hudson dismissed the idea, saying the trustees would not ‘‘relitigate’’ their decision, but money for Victim Support would cater for future needs.
He also stressed the fund’s contribution after ‘‘a long journey these last 26 years’’.
‘‘None of us regret that, but we’re all getting older and we’re all getting tired, and now is the time to bring the process to some sort of conclusion.’’
Ms Holden said she was ‘‘forever thankful’’ to donors and the trust, but there was no ‘‘time limit’’ on victims’ needs.
‘‘This is a real experience that we continue to live and endure in different ways.
‘‘Overall, I guess you have to ask yourself: if you donate money to a certain cause, isn’t that where you expect it to go?’’
❛All I want is for the generosity of donations to be honoured in the most appropriate way, whether that is for the people affected by Aramoana who have a current need, or for people
affected by events of a similar nature
Chiquita Holden