New Justice Minister Andrew Little has revealed in his first day on the job that Teina Pora’s $2.5m compensation for wrongful imprisonment will be increased to match inflation.
Pora spent 20 years in prison for a murder he did not commit.
The High Court ruled that Pora’s compensation should be inflation-adjusted, but the National Government had reserved the right to appeal.
“The High Court was pretty clear that when Cabinet considered it last time they hadn’t considered adjusting by inflation as a matter of fairness. The High Court has now said that the government must do that, so we will do that,” Little told RNZ this morning.
