Australia: Compensation for suicide soldiers prolonged agony

Compo claims drag on for families of suicide soldiers
Posted Thu May 29, 2008 10:04am AEST


David Hayward committed suicide in 2004 (ABC TV: 7.30 Report)

Video: Army failed suicidal soldiers (7.30 Report) It seemed that David Hayward was a young man with everything to live for. In 2003, he completed his Army training and he topped his class.

"We actually came from England 11 years ago and David absolutely loved Australia and he said he wanted to fight for the country he so dearly loved," mother Wendy Hayward said.

But if this young soldier loved the Defence Force, it now appears that love was not fully returned.

In January 2004, after allegedly being bullied, David Hayward went AWOL from his barracks near Darwin. Two months later he was found dead at a backpacker hostel in Perth.

He had taken his own life.

For his family, the first hint of trouble came when a policeman turned up in their front yard.

"[The policeman said] Mrs Hayward, I've got some really bad news for you. Your son, he's been found dead in Perth," Mrs Hayward said.

"That was it. [The policeman said:] 'I've had a phone call from the Army to come and tell you he's been found dead'.

"To be quite honest I can't remember a lot after that."

The Haywards had every reason to be shocked. Although their son had been on the run for two months, the Army had told them nothing.

This was a clear breach of regulations that demand the family should be informed if a soldier goes AWOL.

Mrs Hayward says she has no doubt her son could have been saved if the Army had told them he was AWOL, and her husband Adrian agrees.

"I am just very annoyed," Mr Hayward said. "I just cannot believe that an organisation like that do have protocols in place and they didn't follow it."

But this was not the end of their torment. Had their son been working for a civilian employer, the Haywards would have been entitled to sue or to seek compensation.

But as they soon discovered, despite the Army's failure to follow its own rules, they had no grounds to make any claim against the Defence Department.
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