New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Assessment of witness credibility

Legal area

Court

3 Mar 2022

JONES v R [2022] NZHC 355

Citation

[2022] NZHC 355
Court

High Court

The High Court held the trial judge did not err: on the evidence including the job description, the appellant's control of school finances, her actions (collecting cash, placing it in safe, checking bank balances) and credible witness testimony, it was open to infer she was responsible for banking; expert evidence was unnecessary and the credibility findings were entitled to deference, so no miscarriage of justice arose.
11 Feb 2022

FAITH v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2022] NZHC 156

Citation

[2022] NZHC 156
Court

High Court

Although the trial judge did not set out the statutory test verbatim, he applied the objective standard and, on the totality of the evidence (dash-cam footage, unobstructed visibility, complainant's high-visibility clothing, appellant's own admissions), was entitled to find beyond reasonable doubt that the appellant failed to look adequately or was travelling so as to prevent avoidance, thereby driving carelessly causing injury; the appeal is dismissed.
3 Sept 2019

B v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2019] NZHC 2182

Citation

[2019] NZHC 2182
Court

High Court

The trial judge did not err: it is permissible to accept parts of a witness's evidence and reject others; independent corroborative evidence supported the finding of assault on 10 September; the judge gave adequate reasons; on sentencing the offending was moderately serious (two incidents, weapons, children present) and the appellant failed to demonstrate specific consequences of conviction that would be out of all proportion to the gravity of the offending, so a discharge without conviction was properly refused.
17 Feb 2016

BEATTY v POLICE [2016] NZHC 190

Citation

[2016] NZHC 190
Court

High Court

On rehearing the High Court concluded the Judge's factual findings were open on the evidence: still images from the video supported the finding that the appellant threw the first punch, possession and threatening use of a baseball bat were established and unjustified, statutory defences ss53/56 did not apply because the appellant struck and used unreasonable force, and the s106/s107 threshold for discharge without conviction was not met; accordingly convictions and refusal to discharge were upheld.
14 Jan 2011

K & R Belling Trust v Accident Compensation Corporation

Citation

[2011] NZACC 2
Court

District Court

Leave to appeal was refused because the appellant's contentions were matters of fact and credibility which Judge Beattie lawfully resolved; no error of law was identified and no arguable question of law arose under s162 to justify High Court consideration.

New Zealand Case Law

JONES v R [2022] NZHC 355

FAITH v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2022] NZHC 156

B v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2019] NZHC 2182

BEATTY v POLICE [2016] NZHC 190

K & R Belling Trust v Accident Compensation Corporation