Northern Advocate
  • Northern Advocate home
  • Latest news
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Sport
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology
  • Sport
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings

Locations

  • Far North
  • Kaitaia
  • Kaikohe
  • Bay of Islands
  • Whangārei
  • Kaipara
  • Mangawhai
  • Dargaville

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Kaitaia
  • Whangārei
  • Dargaville

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Northern Advocate

Editorial: Not enough for losing 21 years of his life

By Craig Cooper
Northern Advocate·
20 Jun, 2016 06:00 AM2 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

Teina Pora's compensation package is light.

Having lost 21 years of his life through being wrongfully convicted of rape and murder, he has been offered $2.5 million and an apology.

The offer does not include an inflation component, despite a recommendation to do so from Rodney Hansen, QC, who made the compensation decision.

A challenge is inevitable.

David Dougherty spent more than three years in prison after being convicted of the abduction and rape of an 11-year-old Auckland schoolgirl.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

After a High Court acquittal in 1997 he was paid $868,728 in compensation for wrongful imprisonment four years later, in 2001.

In 1980 Arthur Allan Thomas was paid $950,000 - worth about $4.5 million today - for the nine years he spent in prison after he was wrongfully convicted of murdering Jeanette and Harvey Crewe.

Mr Thomas' situation is closer to Mr Pora's - and based on Mr Thomas' payout Mr Pora should expect a sum in excess of at least $5 million.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

The logic behind that is simple - Mr Thomas' payout was equivalent to $500,000 per year in today's money.

Mr Pora's injustice started 21 years ago.

It is not as simple to say 21 years should mean $500,000 for each year.

But it is not difficult to come to the conclusion that Mr Pora, having been wronged once, has been wronged again with this offer.

Discover more

Editorial: Councillors can never ever be 'average'

15 Jun 04:30 AM

Editorial: Time for a rethink on how we police P

16 Jun 05:30 AM

Editorial: School activities worth the effort

17 Jun 06:30 AM

Editorial: Struggling families need our help

21 Jun 03:21 AM

And of course none of this takes into account the largest "wrong" among all of this, that no one has ever been convicted of Susan Burdett's murder.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Northern Advocate

Northern Advocate

'Grateful no one was killed': Man clambers on campervan to rescue pensioner hurt in twister

Northern Advocate

'Absolutely destroyed': Tornado flips motorhome in Northland, traps elderly man

Lifestyle

Watch: The latest highlights from Smokefreerockquest and Showquest


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Northern Advocate

'Grateful no one was killed': Man clambers on campervan to rescue pensioner hurt in twister
Northern Advocate

'Grateful no one was killed': Man clambers on campervan to rescue pensioner hurt in twister

A tornado flipped a campervan, injuring an elderly man inside.

15 Jul 03:26 AM
'Absolutely destroyed': Tornado flips motorhome in Northland, traps elderly man
Northern Advocate

'Absolutely destroyed': Tornado flips motorhome in Northland, traps elderly man

15 Jul 12:34 AM
Watch: The latest highlights from Smokefreerockquest and Showquest
Lifestyle

Watch: The latest highlights from Smokefreerockquest and Showquest

14 Jul 10:25 PM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • The Northern Advocate e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Northern Advocate
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • The Northern Advocate
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP