Partner and mum’s grief at losing elite NZSAS soldier Nik Kahotea - ‘We were very happy’

• Elite NZSAS soldier Nik Kahotea was killed in a 2019 NZ Defence Force training exercise;
• His whānau has revealed its own investigation into the incident;
• Mum Lois Pamment told the Herald when NZDF blocked WorkSafe’s prosecution it took away accountability;
• Partner reveals tensions in NZSAS ahead of Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea’s death.

The mother of Nik Kahotea - the NZSAS soldier killed in a 2019 training incident - says her son should not have died as a result of safety failures, and believes the New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) shouldn’t have avoided prosecution for its mistake.

And Kahotea’s bereaved partner Dr Sophie Walker - who met him through her national security work - told the Herald: “They do a dangerous job but they can also plan to mitigate hazards.”

Kahotea’s mum Lois Pamment said there has been no accountability for the “preventable” death of her son, NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea, after NZDF invoked a rare waiver that stopped the prosecution brought by WorkSafe.

Pamment told the Herald: “We accept that there is inherent risk in counter-terrorism training, however we believe the litany of errors and the disregard for safety processes in this situation directly resulted in Nik’s death.”

A memorial to NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea in the whānau home. Photo / Michael Craig

Pamment and those closest to Kahotea now hope that accountability will finally come in the form of a yet-to-be-scheduled coroner’s hearing into his 2019 fatal fall, which happened as he attempted to step from a US Army Black Hawk helicopter onto the roof of an NZSAS training building in South Auckland.

How the elite soldier died

Kahotea was among a group of NZSAS operators - as its soldiers are known - who were taking part in counter-terrorism training alongside US Army Green Berets and the elite helicopter regiment, the Night Stalkers.

His death came on the first day of Exercise Vector Balance, while he was attempting a ‘bump’ transfer onto a rooftop at the Battle Training Facility at Ardmore.

The technique - new to the NZSAS - involved a Black Hawk helicopter “bumping” a front wheel against a building to anchor the helicopter, allowing the pilot to swing the cabin around, close enough for passengers to get off.

The WorkSafe inquiry and prosecution - obtained by the Herald through the Official Information Act - took place from Kahotea’s death in 2019 through to the High Court hearing in 2023 and pinned the NZSAS operator’s death on a string of NZDF safety failings.

It found Kahotea fell while attempting the technique for the first time. It was night time, he was wearing night vision goggles and full battledress, carrying weapons and heavy equipment - and the US Army helicopter moved away from the building onto which he was trying to step.

NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea.

The Worksafe prosecution was suddenly halted in 2023, after the High Court ruled the NZDF could declare it void under a special legal exemption.

Because Kahotea’s death occurred while training in counter-terrorism techniques alongside others from the NZSAS - it could be considered necessary to the “defence of New Zealand”.

His mother was devastated. Pamment told the Herald: “I will always know accidents will happen. That’s life. This should never have happened. I’m so angry because this didn’t need to happen.”

Kahotea was described by NZDF after his death as a “valued member of the squadron” who had 10 years experience with the NZSAS.

To get into the NZSAS, Kahotea had passed the gruelling selection course and nine-month basic training period. He then specialised as an air troop operator and later as a military working dog specialist.

His airborne skills were so accomplished he was able to complete fast-roping, rappelling, hover-jumping and dropping from a helicopter into the sea with a dog in tow or strapped to him.

Kahotea served with the NZDF Provincial Reconstruction Team in Bamiyan before a posting as a specialist search engineer alongside the NZSAS in Kabul.

While not part of the Regiment yet, he worked alongside its soldiers, including during the Intercontinental Hotel siege and battle in Kabul in 2011, in which more than 20 people died.

Lois Pamment, mother of NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea. Photo / Michael Craig

Pamment said her son didn’t always tell her what he was doing at work. “He thought he was protecting me but I worried every day he was in Afghanistan” she told the Herald.

And then he came home. “He came back and we thought, ‘phew, we dodged that bullet’.”

Kahotea was recognised for that and other work, earning the New Zealand Operational Service Medal, the New Zealand Defence Service Medal, the New Zealand General Service medal and the NATO ISAF Afghanistan medal.

At the time of his death, Kahotea was fully immersed in career and life. He was about to be promoted, go on an offshore deployment, was in love, and building bonds with his young daughter from a previous relationship.

“That’s the other tragedy,” said his mum. “He was so very happy.”

The whānau inquiry

Kahotea’s whānau provided the Herald with its analysis of the evidence gathered during three different inquiries into his death.

The inquiries agree on a range of safety failures ahead of the critical moment but are divided on the split-second in which Kahotea fell.

NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea had about a decade's experience with the elite unit when he died.

The US inquiry found Kahotea caught his foot on short poles protruding from the roof of the building onto which he was alighting.

NZDF’s inquiry could not settle on a cause, but the senior commander who convened the investigation ruled the US helicopter had moved away from the building at a critical moment.

WorkSafe’s inquiry also found the helicopter had moved, but found Kahotea’s death was the result of NZDF safety failures leading up to the fatal fall.

The whanau’s finding was that the helicopter moved following an egregious series of planning failures by NZDF and the US Army team.

It has told the coroner: “Nothing will bring him back, but his death was preventable and has not been prosecuted appropriately thus far.”

The family’s report highlighted that Kahotea was attempting the “bump” landing having “no prior training, no authorisation, and (an) inadequate briefing” which it said contravened all processes put in place to mitigate risk.

“This is an inexcusable failure on behalf of NZDF” it concluded.

The whānau report acknowledged the dynamic nature of training and the need to include “bump” deployments - particularly as it was a technique the NZSAS would likely use when working alongside US forces.

But there was criticism it was introduced without a considered approach by the chain of command.

They believed the stated purpose - to give the US pilot practice - would not have withstood scrutiny.

A US Army Black Hawk helicopter carrying out a one-wheel 'bump' against the roof of the NZSAS training house where Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea died. The short poles protruding from the roof - showing where a safety fence was removed for training - were blamed as trip-hazards in the US Army inquiry.

The whānau report also raised evidence in the US investigation that showed Kahotea had “shaken his head when he was informed of the new ‘bump’ location”.

The location was chosen just seconds out from the helicopter pulling up alongside the roof and increased the fall distance by another storey.

“This suggests he did not agree with the decision but was forced into an action against his will,” the whanau report said.

Kahotea’s role as an expert military dog handler should also be explored, the whanau report said, after conversations at his funeral with those who served alongside him.

They told the family that the dog - under the control of another handler who had already disembarked - had baulked at the helicopter door, “refusing to deploy onto the roof”.

“As a [military working dog] handler, it is likely that Nik took it upon himself to deploy his [colleague’s] dog, possibly contributing to his fall” the whanau report said. Proper training ahead of the ‘bump’ could have resolved issues around the dog’s deployment, “possibly enabling Nik to exit the airframe safely” they said.

The whānau report said its review of the inquiries showed “multiple failures by NZDF and the US Army to ensure Nik’s safety”.

NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea was an accomplished handler of military working dogs.

“Processes were not followed,” it said, resulting in the training exercise happening in an environment of “time pressure, confusion, overconfidence, and the compression of training” which resulted in a failure to properly assess risks.

As a result, the whānau report concludes, the NZDF and the 160th Special Operations Aviation Regiment of the US Army were responsible for Kahotea’s death.

‘He was a giant’

Walker said the man she knew loved his work as a soldier but they could also see a future together outside the top secret work they were both doing.

The pair met at the Papakura base of the NZSAS in 2016 and formed a solid friendship. There was no workplace romance and their conversations had boundaries - each did things they could not, and did not, talk to each other about.

“I was very content being single and living my life. It was the very first time I saw him in civilian clothes, and I thought ‘damn’.”

Walker recalled the esteem with which Kahotea was held. “I think he was seen as tough, and one of the best.”

“He was a giant,” she said. Almost two metres tall, yet in spite of his size there was a gentleness she believed reflected the difficult years he experienced growing to adulthood.

NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea during a deployment with the elite unit.

“He had finally got to a place in his life where he was happy and safe.”

Walker described Kahotea as one of the smartest people she had ever met - a problem solver who would outmanoeuvre her at the complex math board game they played together at home. “He could have been anything, done anything” she told the Herald.

The ability to think around corners - to solve puzzles - is a trait highly valued in the regiment.

“That was his dream - to be in the SAS,” she said. As a child, he had an old army rucksack on which - under the top flap - was written “future member of the SAS”.

Asked what he would have thought of his death and what followed, Walker said: “He would have been so angry - so angry at everything that happened.

“He would have been angry he had to leave as his life was settling. Everything was working out for him, finally. We were very, very happy.”

The absence of the proper training process - crawl, walk, run - when carrying out the ‘bump’ landing surprised Walker.

“The crawl, walk, run methodology can be extremely boring - but that repetition of basics is standard.”

“Big boys’ rules”

The Herald has obtained interviews with those aboard the helicopter with Kahotea. One referred to “big boys' rules” - a comment Walker has reflected on.

“Is it ‘big boy’s rules’ that command tells you to do something and you do it or is it that it’s a dangerous job? ... The decisions were made for him hours before and then 30 seconds before,” she said, referring to the planning failures and the last-second switch to a higher roof.

As a child, NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea would talk of growing up to join the elite unit.

Why, then, did he get on that helicopter?

“He was a very good soldier. He probably thought, ‘we’ll be okay’.”

At the time, there were tensions between operators and commanders, Walker said. “He loved what he did but was often very frustrated with decisions made by command.”

She says Kahotea’s death deeply impacted those with whom he had served. “A lot of those he was closest to got out after.”

Asked why, she said she thought it was because he was “among the best” and his death showed others they too were vulnerable to what appeared a casual disregard.

Pamment last saw Kahotea alive a week or so before he died, flying in from Australia to spend time with her son, his partner and her granddaughter. He dropped his mum back at the airport. “I said, ‘I love you Nik’, And he said, ‘love you too, mum’. And that was the last time I saw him.”

That was until she saw him a few weeks later, the day after he died. “It didn’t look like him at all. He was so battered and bruised and swollen. I said, ‘that’s not Nik’.

“It hit me like a ton of rocks because you don’t expect your child to go to work … and maybe not come home.”

In documentation, NZDF has raised compensation for whānau. For Pamment, that was never important.

“I never wanted monetary value for Nik’s life. I just wanted them to take accountability, which they didn’t do. I wanted systems in place so it doesn’t happen again.

“We said that all along - and we made that extremely clear - I wanted to make sure that this never happened to anybody else’s children.

“My belief is that we entrust our children to workplaces and we expect and hope and pray that those things are done, that procedures are followed, protocols are followed and risks are mitigated. And in this case it became apparent that wasn’t the case.”

NZSAS Lance Corporal Nik Kahotea and daughter, off on an adventure.

Pamment said she was devastated the WorkSafe prosecution was blocked by NZDF. She said her hope was that WorkSafe’s prosecution would “highlight significant changes or significant things that needed to happen to mitigate as much risk as you can”.

“These guys give their all, they give their lives, and I feel like that that’s undermined.”

NZDF has not taken up interview requests over Kahotea’s death. It has said its Court of Inquiry investigation into his death served accountability and produced recommendations - including those relating to safety, which have been completed.

David Fisher is based in Northland and has worked as a journalist for more than 30 years, winning multiple journalism awards including being twice named Reporter of the Year and being selected as one of a small number of Wolfson Press Fellows to Wolfson College, Cambridge. He joined the Herald in 2004.

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