New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Child homicide

  • 1 Aug 2023

    R v WALLIS [2023] NZHC 2029

    Citation
    [2023] NZHC 2029
    Court
    High Court

    Having found three significant aggravating factors (extreme vulnerability of the infant, gross breach of trust by the father, and actual violence inflicted) and accepting the offending involved a brief, spontaneous loss of control, the Court set a starting point at five and a half years' imprisonment and applied a 25% discount for the earliest guilty plea plus a further 15% global discount for youth, remorse, lack of prior convictions and rehabilitative prospects, producing a final sentence of three years and three months' imprisonment.

  • 15 Dec 2017

    R v Sami [2017] NZHC 3159

    Citation
    [2017] NZHC 3159
    Court
    High Court

    Starting point for manslaughter of this one‑year‑old was set at seven years' imprisonment given the serious assault including fatal blunt force trauma to the head, but significant mitigation was applied for youth, lack of prior offending and character and for nearly three years on bail, resulting in an effective sentence of five years' imprisonment; no MPI ordered and three strikes warning given.