Election likely to overtake Benson-Pope assault inquiry

David Benson-Pope

The police inquiry into claims that Cabinet minister David Benson-Pope physically assaulted some former students should be finished in the next three weeks, but is unlikely to be resolved before the election.

Detective Sergeant Malcolm Inglis has been investigating the allegations raised in Parliament in May that Mr Benson-Pope, a former teacher at Dunedin's Bayfield High School, struck a pupil, making his nose bleed, and stuffed a tennis ball in another student's mouth and taped his hands to a table.

Five former students, who claim to be victims, have publicly detailed the abuse.

Mr Inglis said he would finish his part of the investigation in the next three weeks and the case would be returned to the Office of the Police Commissioner. It would then be peer reviewed.

If there was a recommendation that charges be laid, it would go through a process to establish whether there was sufficient evidence to proceed.

Police Commissioner Rob Robinson would review the case, and then it would be passed to the Crown Law Office and to the Solicitor-General, Terence Arnold, QC.

Mr Benson-Pope, Minister of Fisheries and Associate Minister of Education, Environment and Justice, stood aside from his portfolios when the allegations were first raised.

Prime Minister Helen Clark reinstated him in June. The Speaker, Margaret Wilson, decided against referring claims that he misled Parliament to the privileges committee.

Phil Weaver, one of the students who said he was abused, said he had been interviewed by the police but had not heard anything from them for a month.