Army's ecstasy scandal

Photo / NZ Herald

Two trainee officers at Linton Army Camp were caught with a haul of 210 ecstasy tablets, that police say they were intending to supply to others.

Shane Michael McHaffie and George David Anthony Steele, both 19, appeared at Auckland District Court yesterday charged with possession for supply.

Linton is the same camp where three soldiers were convicted of assaulting another in a torture and interrogation session conducted after an evening drinking in nearby Palmerston North.

The torture victim, Ethan Hall, died in October this year after a fall from a building in Palmerston North. His mother, Freda Smith, says he regularly used drugs and partied hard with Linton Army mates.

After the Herald on Sunday discovered the new charges against Linton trainees yesterday, Smith called for the Defence Force to crack down on the hard-partying culture at the camp.

"I think they have too much free time and idle hands are mischief hands. They [the defence force] need to toughen up."

Smith said her son told her he took a pill to mask his drug use. The Army conducts routine drug testing on all their employees.

McHaffie and Steele are in their second year of a four-year officer training programme.

McHaffie has a message posted on his Facebook page, saying: "I used to be such a clean, wholesome boy until I joined the Army."

Army spokesperson Major Kristian Dunne would not comment on specifics of the case as the matter is before the courts.

But Dunne said drugs were not tolerated in the Army. McHaffie and Steele's future in the defence force could be in jeopardy.

"When personnel have been found guilty, and depending on the nature of the case and the rank, their retention in the service will be reviewed," he said.

There are 2000 personnel based at Linton Military Camp and Dunne said there were measures in place to make it a safe and healthy drinking environment.

"We are representative of the wider New Zealand community and New Zealand as a whole has a drinking problem and we work as hard as we can to address that," said Dunne.