Former inmates awarded damages after being unlawfully exposed to tear gas at a notorious detention centre have had a payout slashed despite a High Court appeal win.
The judgment on Wednesday ruled Ethan Austral, Leroy O'Shea, Keiran Webster and Josiah Binsaris were entitled to exemplary damages but reduced an initial payout of $200,000 each to $50,000.
However, the quartet were also awarded aggravated and general damages, taking their total payout to $360,000.
The decision caps a 12-year legal battle for the quartet.
In 2014 they were being held at Darwin's Don Dale Youth Detention Centre when prison guards tear gassed another inmate who had escaped from his cell and damaged property.
The four inmates were locked in their cells and exposed to the gas, including two who had asthma.
Their cells had no windows, air conditioning or running water.
Submissions to the High Court revealed an officer had asked whether they should "gas the lot of them", with a senior official replying: "I don't mind how much gas you use".
Lawyers told the court the quartet - who were aged 15 to 17 at the time - were later taken to a basketball court, handcuffed and made to lie on their stomachs while they were hosed down.
The NT government had defended the actions of detention staff on the grounds the use of CS gas was authorised by provisions of the Youth Justice Act 2005.
However, in 2020 the High Court ruled the deployment of the gas was unlawful and constituted unlawful battery of the appellants.
The Don Dale centre had been notorious for inmate unrest and disturbances, along with claims of abuse of detainees by staff.
The majority decision on Wednesday overturned a 2025 NT Supreme Court appeal which stripped the quartet of a $200,000 payment each for exemplary damages.
The High Court allowed the quartet's appeal but reduced the exemplary damages payment to $50,000 each.
In a mix of general, aggravated and exemplary damages Mr O'Shea and Mr Webster were awarded a total of $100,000 each while Mr Austral was awarded $90,000 and Mr Binsaris $70,000.
Mr O'Shea said the court win was not just about the money.
"It's about recognition that what happened to us was wrong. For a long time it felt like no one was listening to what we went through," he said in a statement released by the North Australian Aboriginal Justice Agency.
"I hope it helps make sure things like this don't happen to other young people in the future."
The agency said the quartet had fought for justice for more than a decade after being unlawfully tear gassed, despite not being responsible for a disturbance that prompted its use.
The agency's civil managing lawyer Andrew Roberts said the NT government had still not apologised or held any individual officers to account.
