Survivor prosecutes commanding officers over chopper crash

Photo / File

Defence bosses face a criminal charge over a fatal Anzac Day helicopter crash in 2010 after the sole survivor took out a private prosecution.

Four years on, Sergeant Stevin Creeggan is still a serving member of the Royal New Zealand Air Force despite suffering serious injuries in the accident which killed three others.

His prosecution is the first outside the military, with no one ever found culpable over the crash, even though inquiries identified a string of failures leading up to it.

The charge, laid in the Wellington District Court, will see Sergeant Creeggan prosecute his commanding officers over alleged health and safety failures in the lead-up to the crash which claimed the lives of three of the four men aboard.

Sergeant Creeggan was thrown from the Iriquois helicopter when it crashed into the side of a hill north of Wellington. He suffered severe chest, leg and spinal injuries.

In the chaos following the crash, Sergeant Creeggan was declared dead to media, prompting an apology to his parents Gaile and John.

Wynn Williams solicitor Tim McKenzie confirmed a charge had been laid in Sergeant Creeggan's name, citing health and safety failures by the Defence Force.

The charge follows successful court action by Sergeant Creeggan who had to seek a judge's permission to lay the charge following bungles by the government department which should have investigated.

Mr McKenzie said the charge alleged the Defence Force had "failed to take all practicable steps to ensure the safety of its employees ... to hazards arising from the operation of helicopters while at work".

The crash investigation was bungled by government health and safety investigators, who believed it was the Defence Force's job to investigate itself.

An inquiry later revealed the then-Department of Labour should have carried out its own investigation — and recommended the creation of a specialist unit to probe military accidents.

The Defence Force Court of Inquiry heard of problems affecting safety which reached the highest ranks of the air force. The Herald then revealed early warnings and safety recommendations had been ignored, and other unsafe practices.

But when it came to prosecuting personnel over the crash, it never went higher in rank than charges against the squadron leader who authorised the flight on the day.

Neither the squadron leader, who had warned commanders about unsafe practices at the Ohakea base and had been ignored, nor the flight leader were found guilty.

Andrew Carson, whose son corporal Ben Carson, 25, was killed in the crash, said the charge should have come years ago and it should not have taken the sole survivor to do it.

He said scope existed for the Government to take the prosecution through Workforce NZ, but it had opted not to.

Without Mr Creeggan, "it would have all been swept under the carpet", he said.

Mr Carson said a request to prepare a victim impact statement gave he and wife Pauline "some closure".

"I feel a bit of justice," he said.

The case comes to court in July.