Brothers' compo plea rejected again

Damien Nepata. Photo / Mark Mitchell

A Hawke's Bay man and his brother who were badly injured in Defence Force exercises will get no further compensation from the Government, says Defence Force Minister Jonathan Coleman.

Parliament's Maori Affairs select committee recommended in June that Mr Coleman authorise ex gratia payments for Damien Nepata, of Napier, and his brother, George Nepata, who were hurt in separate incidents.

But Mr Coleman said yesterday the Government would not grant them further compensation, noting they had already received full ACC payouts and Defence Force benefits.

It was the second time the brothers had appealed to the Government for compensation after an unsuccessful bid 10 years ago, when a select committee also recommended a payout.

Mr Coleman said while he had "huge sympathy" for the brothers, there had been no substantive changes to their case since Cabinet considered the issue 10 years ago.

It was not possible to distinguish between the Nepata brothers' situation and others who had been injured in military service.

Damien Nepata suffered burns to 40 per cent of his body when the tank he was driving crashed, rolled and caught fire during training at Waiouru army camp in 1994.

Five years earlier, George Nepata, from Taupo, was paralysed in a training accident in Singapore when he was dropped head-first by soldiers carrying him up a slope on a stretcher.