‘Who’s really to blame for mate’s death?’

of training in the Unimog.

‘‘I was present when army officials visited Joan [Carter’s wife] to talk to her about the accident.

‘‘They ended up telling us about how Pennington had had his full licence only five weeks, and previously had only driven a small, automatic Toyota hatchback.’’

O’Donnell said it was obvious driving a seven-tonne Unimog with four pedals to operate with two feet was a massive change from a small automatic with only two pedals to operate with one foot.

‘‘It has to have been a factor,’’ he said. ‘‘Also, the driving instructor states in the reports that he was not watching Pennington’s feet in the lead-up to the crash because he was ‘satisfied with the trainee’s progress’.

‘‘Why was he not watching his feet? ‘‘I did [a heavy vehicle licence] and the instructor was very careful to tell me at every point of my instruction what to be looking for and what to be doing with my hands and feet.

‘‘How can all the blame rest on a guy who has had his full licence only five weeks and been driving a heavy vehicle on the open road for 61⁄2-hours?

‘‘Was he ready? Why is the instructor not responsible for him?’’

Apart from saying the technique was not used, the New Zealand Defence Force has refused to comment on the case since the court of inquiry was concluded.

Requests to speak to Pennington were declined.

O’Donnell said he had also contacted Worksafe NZ, and six MPs, to demand a more comprehensive inquiry – to no avail.

‘‘I don’t feel like this is democracy at work. Someone died and it seems like the army and government agencies are saying, ‘bad luck, someone died, life goes on’.’’