Deputy Premier Michael Dunkley insisted yesterday he was not dragging his feet on whether an inquiry should be held into historic complaints of sexual misconduct in the Bermuda Regiment.

The Public Safety Minister, who repeatedly called for an independent inquiry when he was in the Opposition, told The Royal Gazette that a Human Rights Commission investigation had not prompted any victims to come forward and he could not see why a Royal Commission or other inquiry would be any different.

“I haven’t changed,” he said. “I am still very concerned about those types of things.

“One thing about Michael Dunkley, I was born at night, but it wasn’t last night and I’ve learned if you’ve banged your head up the wall asking for something, at some time you’ve got to stop banging your head against the wall or take another approach.

“I have confidence that what the Human Rights Commission did was appropriate and [they] said that people didn’t come forward. If the Governor wants to have an inquiry, I’d be supportive of that but that’s the Governor’s call.”

The Minister admitted he hadn’t asked for or seen the HRC’s full report on its three-year inquiry into the sexual misconduct claims but said: “I have confidence in those commissioners.

“There is nothing to lead me to believe that they didn’t do their job appropriately.”

Asked why he hadn’t requested the report, Mr Dunkley replied: “Because as a Minister, I don’t believe that Ministers should interfere with the Human Rights Commission. I believe there is confidential information in there.”

Asked why he didn’t request a redacted version, he said: “If they redacted that, that’s fine. I’m not going to ask for it through the press.”

Mr Dunkley first demanded an inquiry in October 2009, after this newspaper revealed that at least 14 complaints of sexual misconduct were made by male soldiers at Warwick Camp between 1989 and 2002.

He told The Royal Gazette at the time he was concerned there had been a cover-up because “some of the names of the officers that are alleged to have carried out the behaviour are well-known in our community”.

Mr Dunkley said: “I’m not on a witch hunt; I just want accountability.”

Thirteen of the allegations were about Major Glenn Brangman but he was not ordered to retire from the Regiment until 13 years after the first complaint was lodged.

He has since been jailed for sexually assaulting a male teenage clerk in 2009 while in charge of Bermuda Housing Corporation.

The HRC launched its inquiry into our revelations about Warwick Camp on October 15, 2009 — a week after Governor Sir Richard Gozney dismissed a call from Mr Dunkley and anti-conscription campaigners for a Royal Commission.

The Commission announced in October 2012 that its inquiry was over and that no victims had come forward, despite its best efforts to encourage them to do so.

It said in a press release that all the alleged incidents uncovered by this newspaper happened in or before 2002, adding: “The Human Rights Commission has no power to investigate complaints that are more than two years old from the date of the alleged contravention of the Act.”

Referring to the fact that no victims came forward, Mr Dunkley said: “If that’s the case, then why would I want to go and look at a full report? I have to read a whole report to actually feel comfortable about the decision of the HRC?”

Asked whether he was satisfied there wasn’t a cover-up, he said: “I’m satisfied with the findings that the Human Rights Commission has released. Wouldn’t those questions be appropriate to the Governor? He’s Commander-in-Chief [of the Regiment].”

He said the issue of whether the officers who led the Regiment between 1989 and 2002 should answer questions about how Brangman was able to able to stay in his position as Quartermaster, in charge of young conscripts, was also a matter for the Governor.

This newspaper asked Mr Dunkley on Monday if he still supported an inquiry into the controversy.

He sent an e-mailed statement which made no mention of the HRC.

It said: “As the case highlighted in the media proves, the courts can be trusted to weigh evidence fairly and that is the place for matters of this kind to be dealt with.

“In addition I am aware that the former [Regiment] CO (Brian Gonsalves) took these matters very seriously and then did a tremendous amount of work to address any internal deficiencies in the Regiment in dealing with these matters.

“The former Commander-in-Chief was also satisfied with the zero-tolerance approach taken by Colonel Gonsalves and the manner in which the Regiment dealt with the issues.

“Finally, as the Governor is the Commander in Chief of the Regiment, any inquiry would be a matter for Government House.”

Yesterday, the Minister sat down with this newspaper to discuss the issue further. He said he was “offended” by the suggestion he’d done a U-turn.

“I mean who else is championing this cause?” he asked. “Who else is willing to come on-the-record and champion this cause?

“And you are going to make me the bad scapegoat? I’m still concerned about it.

“The point is that through all of this there has been a challenge of getting people to come forward. That’s what has to be dealt with. That’s the real challenge.

“I suggest that the considerable efforts of the HRC to address those allegations of sexual assault of their own motion, within their remit, is an indication of just how seriously these matters are taken.

“Historic complaints can still be investigated by the police if a complaint is made and I urge anyone to seek that recourse.”

Brangman, 61, issued a lawsuit against the Governor and the Government after he was ordered to retire from the Regiment.

Court papers filed by his lawyers at the time, and obtained from the Supreme Court by this newspaper, list the allegations of sexual misconduct made against him.

He dropped the lawsuit after he was given a job at publicly-funded Bermuda Housing Corporation by then Housing Minister David Burch.

The job brought him into regular contact with vulnerable young men and he was convicted last February of sexually assaulting a 19-year-old clerk on four occasions.

Asked whether Brangman should have been given that position, Mr Dunkley said: “I can’t answer that, simply because I’ve hired hundreds of people in my life and until you’re in the room and you can look at the facts of the situation and the person and the job and all that, how can you comment?”

Bermudians Against the Draft founder Larry Marshall said yesterday: “When [Mr] Dunkley was a senator, he couldn’t say enough about sexual assault.

“Now he’s the Public Safety Minister, he is not interested. He said in February last year that something smelled bad and the people deserved answers. What I want to know is: what has changed?”

Governor George Fergusson told this newspaper in an e-mail: “I do not see a case for a Royal Commission.”