A coronial inquest was held last week into the 2019 death
of New Zealand Special Air Service (NZSAS) Operator, Lance
Corporal Nicholas Kahotea.
An experienced member of
the NZSAS, Lance Corporal Kahotea died during a
counter-terrorism training exercise when the helicopter he
was in moved away from a building and he fell, sustaining
fatal injuries.
Chief of Army, Major General Rose
King, following last week’s hearing, said his loss,
continued to be carried by family, whānau, friends,
colleagues and comrades.
“For some, I acknowledge
that pain may never truly go away.”
Major General
King said Lance Corporal Kahotea led a life of service to
the NZ Army and his country and was an NZSAS operator at the
peak of his career, recognised and decorated for his
overseas deployments to Afghanistan.
She acknowledged
the NZDF’s Court of Inquiry and Assembling Authority
findings into his death, which identified there were
deficiencies in the planning and authorising of the bump
insertion training.
All recommendations made by the
Court of Inquiry were actioned.
Concurrent and
subsequent reviews also identified deficiencies in the NZ
Army’s training system at the time. These reviews were the
most concentrated and wide-ranging effort to improve safety
and training processes in recent times, Major General King
said.
The New Zealand Defence Force (NZDF) put
significant effort into mitigating the risk of deaths or
serious injury on any exercise, she said.
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Major
General King said the training required to operate at the
NZSAS’s elite levels was inherently
dangerous.
“These exercises carry a higher level of
risk than routine exercises to best prepare our people to
not only achieve successful outcomes, but also to best
protect them when they are deployed.
“In military
training, it will never be possible to eliminate all
risks.”
Since the death of Lance Corporal Kahotea
the New Zealand Army has stood up entirely new, centralised
safety and training functions. Internal assurance functions
have been refocussed to look more broadly across the
training system as the Army seeks to continually improve
training policy, doctrine, risk management processes, and
understanding of risk at all levels.
“We strongly
refute any characterisation that the entire system is
fundamentally defective or unfit,” she said.
“We
are confident that with the steps already undertaken, along
with our continuous efforts to improve our systems, so far
as reasonably practicable in a military setting, it is fit
to safely train our people for the increasingly agile and
evolving strategic environment demanded of
them.”
Major General King said the NZ Army looked
forward to supporting the coroner with the remainder of her
inquest.
