A New Zealand MP who has apologised for attacking a fellow student at high school has been reinstated to the opposition National party after an inquiry cleared him of bullying a female flatmate while at university.
Sam Uffindell had been suspended so the party could carry out an investigation into allegations of violence and intimidating behaviour at university, but on Monday he was reinstated to his former position, after the investigation found no evidence of bullying after high school.
The first round of allegations emerged in August: local media outlet Stuff reported that Uffindell and a group of teenagers had viciously beaten a younger student, allegedly with wooden bed legs, leaving him severely bruised and traumatised.
The assault took place at King’s College, one of New Zealand’s expensive and prestigious private schools, and Uffindell was asked to leave.
Uffindell publicly apologised for the incident, but denied the use of wooden bed legs, saying he had “no recollection of using anything other than my fists”.
“I’m not proud at all,” he said. “I was effectively a bully. I was a mean person. There will be other people at high school that I have hurt.”
After initially standing by their MP, the party stood him down after fresh accusations were reported by RNZ that Uffindell had been aggressive and verbally abusive toward a female housemate while at university. Uffindell denied those allegations, saying there had been a relationship breakdown.
On Monday, the National party president, Sylvia Wood, said the party’s investigation did not substantiate reports that Uffindell was a bully after high school. National’s leader, Christopher Luxon, said Uffindell had been reinstated into caucus.
Of the university incident, the party said in a release: “There are differing accounts of what occurred and [the investigator] concluded the event was not as it was described in the media. Despite this conclusion, it is clear that the complainant’s experience in a deteriorating flat relationship caused her harm.”
The investigation would not be made public, the party said, and its terms of reference or who was interviewed have not been released.
Luxon said he believed in second chances, and that people could change.
“We can still be a party that talks very strongly about crime and law and order in this country,” he said. Asked by reporters if he was happy to have a bully in the party, Luxon said he did not believe they had one.
National has been running on a “tough on crime” platform, calling for bigger repercussions for young people involved in violent crime, and saying teenagers and young adults should not expect a “free ride” from the government.
But revelations that one of the party’s MPs had a violent history of his own does not appear to have significantly hurt National in the polls. The party is currently polling ahead of the Jacinda Ardern-led Labour party.
Luxon said: “With the known matters having now been independently considered, and with Mr Uffindell’s own acknowledgment that he is a different person now to the person he once was, we are now able to move forward.”