New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Bill of rights proportionality

Legal area

Court

20 Dec 2021

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS v GRAY [2021] NZHC 3558

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3558
Court

High Court

The Court dismissed the ESO application because it was not satisfied the statutory threshold of a 'very high' and immediate risk of future relevant violent offending was met: expert evidence established a high but not inevitable or immediate risk contingent on future adverse circumstances, and the proposed standard ESO conditions were not sufficiently targeted or no more restrictive than necessary to be a demonstrably justified limitation on rights under the Bill of Rights.
9 Nov 2021

GEMMELL v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZHC 3018

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3018
Court

High Court

The High Court held that evidence the offender drank only after driving is a relevant mitigating factor and, where not disputed by the prosecutor under s24, must be taken into account; however the weight to be given to such evidence is discretionary for the sentencing Judge. Because the Judge expressly considered the mitigating evidence, relied on the broader sentencing range and the applicant's serious prior offending, and the resulting sentence lay within the appropriate range, there was no material error warranting substitution of sentence and the appeal was dismissed.