Veitch can work ‘if he mans up’
Campaigners against domestic violence say broadcaster Tony Veitch shouldn’t be locked out of his career – if he sincerely apologises for his past.
Their calls came after Veitch pulled out of a new Sky TV show that promised to tackle ‘‘hardhitting’’ sport issues.
Veitch quit the show just two days after it was announced, with Sky under pressure for hiring the Radio Sport DJ, who admitted committing domestic violence against former partner Kristin Dunne-Powell.
The domestic violence campaign White Ribbon said Sky should never have hired Veitch in the first place, and said the broadcaster should now use its influence to denounce domestic abuse and help combat the issue.
Jane Drumm, the general manager of domestic violence charity Shine said they didn’t ‘‘want a witch hunt’’. Veitch, however, shouldn’t have been surprised by the outcry that followed the announcement, she said, because many in the community were unconvinced he had changed.
The sports broadcaster and NZ Herald columnist avoided prison when he admitting injuring former girlfriend, Kristin DunnePowell. Veitch was found guilty in 2006 of breaking her back.
Drumm said Veitch should be allowed to move on with his career, if ‘‘he acknowledges his wrong in a public way’’.
‘‘I’m not in favour with saying he can never work in public again. I’m not interested in trying to do things so Tony Veitch doesn’t have a job. What advantage is there in that?’’
She said many people were unconvinced when Veitch admitted abusing his former girlfriend.
‘‘He responded by being the victim himself,’’ she said. He tried to excuse his behaviour and after it was revealed, she said he wanted sympathy for himself. ‘‘He had a whole campaign going to tear down the victim of his alleged assault’s reputation.’’
‘‘As he might say about people in different situations, he needs to man up. He needs to say what he did was wrong. It will be tough, but unless he wants to spend his life running away from things – which he is now – then he needs to speak publicly about this.’’
The case against Veitch included details of his repeated abuse. The charge Veitch pleaded guilty to was for a 2006 incident when he refused to call an ambulance as Dunne-Powell pleaded for help, according to police. He had kicked her back two to three times the day before. ‘‘The blows caused the complainant to collapse on the floor screaming,’’ police said.
White Ribbon campaign manager Rob McCann said Veitch’s offending wouldn’t rule him out from becoming an anti-violence ambassador. He said even men with histories of abuse should be allowed to hold public positions, but questioned why Sky TV would promote Veitch.
He called for Sky to talk with White Ribbon about the message it was sending by hiring Veitch.
‘‘This is a clear example where if we had some sort of engagement with the executives at Sky they would never have made it,’’ he said. Other companies including the Warehouse were White Ribbon certified.
McCann said the organisation had former abusers representing it at functions, but they had to be sure the abuse really had stopped.
‘‘You have to know they have learnt, they know what they’ve done, and not engaged in victim blaming or minimisation of their offences.’’
Veitch paid Dunne-Powell $100,000 to keep her from talking about the abuse.
Veitch did not respond to requests for comment.