Trustee refusing to say what will happen with Aramoana Relief Trust fund

The fund, launched days after gunman David Gray claimed the lives of 13 people in Aramoana. Photo / Getty Images

A trustee responsible for the Aramoana Relief Trust fund is refusing to say what will happen to the money, after a final payout was delayed amid criticism from victims and their families.

The fund's final $47,000 was due to be split equally between three final recipients, including the trust behind the Aramoana wharf restoration project, by March 31.

The Otago Daily Times has since confirmed the payments have not been made, but questions about the delay have been dismissed by trustee Paul Hudson.

Mr Hudson, a former Dunedin city councillor, said all details of the final payout were "confidential and a matter for the trustees. It's not for public broadcast."

His comment came after it was reported last month the fund was set to wind up after the final payouts were made.

The fund, launched days after gunman David Gray claimed the lives of 13 people in Aramoana on November 13, 1990, raised about $300,000 in donations.

The aim was to provide financial support to victims and their families, but also help rehabilitate the community.

The trustees' plan was criticised by victims including Chiquita Holden, who lost her father, Garry, and sister, Jasmine, in the shooting.

Ms Holden questioned the process and said donors' intentions, and the views of some victims, were being overlooked.

Mr Hudson, speaking last month, had claimed "senior family members" of victims had been contacted and supported the trust's decision, and calls on the fund had been dwindling for years.

However, after saying the trustees would not change their minds, it emerged last week the money was still held by the Dunedin City Treasury and no request to transfer it had been received.

Former Dunedin city councillor Paul Hudson. Photo / Otago Daily Times

That remained the case yesterday, although Mr Hudson refused to explain the delay.

He said he had received "advice that I should not comment to you, and I am accepting that advice as a trustee at the moment".

Council chief executive Sue Bidrose had previously suggested the council could assume responsibility for the fund, but only if the trustees agreed, and Mr Hudson has also rejected that idea.

The trustees' decisions have also been criticised by others, including Shane Morgan, who lost his sister Rewa Bryson in the shooting, and Carrie-Ann Buchanan, who knew many of those killed.

Yesterday, Gladys Nilson, the mother of Garry Holden, joined those criticising the final payout.

Mrs Nilson (85) said she had never heard from the fund's trustees, who needed to be more transparent about the fund and the continuing need for it.

"I know that there are people still hurting. Any time Aramoana comes up, of course, it doesn't help me."

She was not against rebuilding the wharf, but a fund set aside for victims of Aramoana was not the right source of money for the project.

The fund should be retained to support victims, now or in the future, she believed.

"I know Garry's opinion. If Garry were still alive, he would be for the people. He was a people person."