Nepata brothers may finally receive compensation for horrific injuries

Two brothers who received horrific injuries in separate botched Army exercises may finally receive compensation.

Damien Nepata suffered extensive third-degree burns in 1994, and his brother George is a tetraplegic after an accident during a training exercise in Singapore in 1989.

The Government has twice rejected recommendations from a parliamentary committee it should further compensate the brothers.

On Sunday, Minister for Defence and Veterans' Affairs Ron Mark told Three's The Hui that he has officials re-examining their case.

He says he isn't satisfied with the information provided by officials to the former minister, Jonathan Coleman, who in 2013 rejected the recommendation of a Māori Affairs select committee that the brothers be compensated.

In 2016 the brothers took their case to the Waitingi Tribunal, claiming The Crown had breached the Treaty of Waitangi by not honouring its duty of care. 

At the time, Damien Nepata told The Hui: "The Crown puts an obligation on you that at any point in time it can ask you to leave New Zealand and put your physical safety in harm's way."

The Hui