Pora ‘feels free’ after compo lift

"Teina Pora was robbed of more than two decades of his life.''

Justice Minister Andrew Little

The new coalition Government has announced it will boost the compensation for wrongfully imprisoned Teina Pora by almost

$1 million.

Pora was declared innocent of the 1992 rape and murder of Susan Burdett, a crime he was arrested for in 1993 and finally cleared of by the Privy Council in 2015.

He spent two decades in prison for a crime he did not commit.

Pora is set to receive an extra

$988,099 in compensation as an inflation adjustment, bringing his total compensation package to

$3,509,048.42.

He will also receive $45,000 for costs for his successful judicial review of the last National Government’s refusal to adjust for inflation.

Justice Minister Andrew Little made the announcement yesterday after Pora’s legal team approved the deal.

Little said Pora was a victim of ‘‘one of New Zealand’s worst miscarriages of justice’’.

‘‘He was robbed of more than two decades of his life, languishing in prison for crimes he did not commit.

‘‘These were years when Mr Pora could have been working to build his future and his family.

‘‘I am grateful to Teina Pora for his positive engagement with the new Government and we wish him all the best for a better future,’’ Little said.

‘‘This brings all claims by Teina Pora against the Crown arising out of his wrongful convictions to an end,’’ he said.

Pora’s team reacts

Tim McKinnel, a private investigator who worked on getting Pora released from prison, and his lawyer, Jonathan Krebs, spoke to media on Pora’s behalf yesterday.

McKinnel said Pora was ‘‘absolutely thrilled and quite emotional’’ about the additional compensation and was keen to ‘‘thank the Andrew guy who is fixing it all’’.

He said for the first time Pora felt ‘‘free’’.

Pora also wanted to thank Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, his legal team and the journalists who had followed his case and helped get him released.

‘‘It’s an incredible day and has been a long time coming,’’ McKinnel said.

‘‘It’s over now. In terms of his legal case there’s nothing more to fight for.’’

Krebs made a special mention of McKinnel, who spent years fighting to get Pora free, and said he was the ‘‘single hero’’ in this whole case.

The original deal

Pora was originally given almost $2.5m compensation under the National government.

The compensation was subject to a judicial review because it wasn’t adjusted for inflation and the High Court agreed the previous Cabinet should have made the adjustments.

While the judicial review recommended $600,000 in inflationadjusted compensation, Little said the Government had gone further than that.

Little did not speak to Pora directly but said that at some point that would be appropriate if he was willing to do so.

The Government was not concerned it would set a precedent and open the floodgates on other wrongful imprisonment cases.

Little said the money would give Pora ‘‘some scope for getting his life back on track’’ and reconnecting with his family.

‘‘Who can put a price on nearly 20 years of a young life that is spent behind bars for a crime a young person didn’t commit?’’

Review commission

A Criminal Cases Review Commission will be set up in the next couple of years, which is part of Labour’s coalition agreement with NZ First.

Little said he was keen on the commission being set up because it accepted the ‘‘criminal justice system can get it wrong and does get it wrong’’.

‘‘Getting justice should not rely on well-meaning, well-motivated people like Tim McKinnel to be the crusader to get you justice,’’ Little said.

‘‘Because justice might now have been done for Teina Pora, but there will be others who are in prison at the moment, who don’t have a champion but are entitled to have a system to put right the things that the criminal justice system does wrong.’’