New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Conspiracy

Legal area

Court

21 Sept 2023

FIRST CREDIT UNION INCORPORATED v VAIANGINA [2023] NZHC 2639

Citation

[2023] NZHC 2639
Court

High Court

On the affidavits and material before the Court FCU demonstrated a good arguable case on at least one pleaded cause of action, identified assets with sufficient particularity, and established a real risk of dissipation supported by alleged fraudulent conduct and respondent non‑engagement; balancing the interests and given the offered undertaking as to damages, limited without‑notice freezing relief was justified, including restraint over the jointly owned leasehold property as against the co‑owner respondents but not as a personal order against the non‑defendant co‑owner.
30 Aug 2023

R v DEMANT [2023] NZHC 2403

Citation

[2023] NZHC 2403
Court

High Court

Court adopted an overall global starting point of 13 years' imprisonment (7 years for the 200kg conspiracy and an 11 year baseline for cocaine offending uplifted by 2 years for methamphetamine offending), then applied mitigation: 20% for guilty pleas, plus allowances of 5% for remorse, 10% for rehabilitation and 10% for previous good character (combined mitigation applied), to reach a final sentence of seven years and two months' imprisonment; forfeiture and destruction of listed items ordered.
1 Dec 2022

R v FAKAOSILEA AND OTHERS [2022] NZHC 3207

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3207
Court

High Court

Aggregate methamphetamine offending quantified at a minimum of 1.633 kg placed principal offender in Zhang band 4 with a 14-year lead starting point; role, additional conspiracy and cocaine matters produced uplifts to a global starting point of 18.5 years for Fakaosilea, adjusted down for personal circumstances, guilty pleas, EM bail credits and a 5% bail uplift to yield final concurrent sentences (Fakaosilea 13 years 2 months; Pelikani 4 years 11 months; Katoa 4 years 9 months; Mataia 5 years 3 months) and no MPI imposed.
4 Nov 2022

KEA INVESTMENTS LTD v WIKELEY FAMILY TRUSTEE LTD [2022] NZHC 2881

Citation

[2022] NZHC 2881
Court

High Court

The High Court had personal jurisdiction over the New Zealand company and sufficient connection to the dispute; Kea established serious questions to be tried on alleged fraud, forgery, tortious conspiracy and abuse of process and showed that further enforcement and discovery steps abroad would be oppressive and vexatious. Given urgency and risk that defendants might defeat relief if warned, without-notice limited interim relief was justified. The balance of convenience and interests of justice required narrowly framed orders to preserve the status quo pending an on-notice hearing.
23 Aug 2021

CLAUSEN v R [2021] NZCA 396

Citation

[2021] NZCA 396
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held that s 22A was satisfied: intercepted communications and surrounding conduct provided reasonable evidence of a conspiracy to purchase and supply pseudoephedrine and that Clausen was a member; the intercepted communications were therefore admissible; the jury verdict was not unreasonable on the totality of the evidence; the sentencing starting point was within range given Clausen's role and the scale of the operation; appeals dismissed.
21 May 2021

KELLY JAMES EMERY v R [2021] NZCA 158

Citation

[2021] NZCA 158
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held the convictions would not be disturbed: prosecutor statements and alleged summing-up errors did not create a real risk the verdicts were affected given the trial Judge's rulings, the context of a single joint enterprise, counsel expressly declining a fuller judicial summary, and the admissibility and probative value of the challenged evidence. Sentences were quashed and remitted for re-sentencing because the appellants should be given the opportunity to present s27 cultural material and because sentencing assessments (starting points and MPIs) required rehearing by the trial co…
16 Dec 2020

DONOVAN GROUP NZ LIMITED v REID [2020] NZHC 3367

Citation

[2020] NZHC 3367
Court

High Court

The plaintiff's broad confidentiality case was confined to maturing business opportunities (projects in negotiation as at 25 May 2018); only documents relating to those maturing opportunities found in the seizure are discoverable now; other broadly pleaded categories (customer lists, suppliers, routine designs, software, pricing methodology and marketing methods) were not sufficiently particularised or inherently confidential and are not discoverable at this stage; attachments to legal advice are not automatically privileged unless they were already privileged or meet the narrow Lyell selecti…
11 Oct 2019

R v WILLIAMS [2019] NZHC 2614

Citation

[2019] NZHC 2614
Court

High Court

On re-sentence the Judge set the ACM van robbery starting point at seven years, declined to materially alter the uplifts for the additional offending, fixed overall starting points of 11 years (Williams) and 10 years (Emery), allowed a 10% s27 reduction for each and an additional 5% for Williams for rehabilitation, producing end sentences of nine years four months for Williams and nine years for Emery, and upheld a minimum period of imprisonment of 50% for both.
31 May 2019

YONKWA-DINGOM v R [2019] NZCA 194

Citation

[2019] NZCA 194
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court granted leave to appeal and dismissed the appeal on the grounds that there is reasonable evidence of a conspiracy (s 22A(a)) and reasonable evidence that the appellant was a member of that conspiracy (s 22A(b)); issues under s 22A(c) as to whether particular statements were in furtherance were properly reserved for the trial judge.
15 Apr 2019

R v NAMANA [2019] NZHC 826

Citation

[2019] NZHC 826
Court

High Court

Although the total quantity and commercial scale of the operation placed the offending in the high Fatu band, the defendant's limited and subsidiary role justified a materially lower starting point (3.5 years for the methamphetamine charges). Applying a 16‑month personal mitigation for youth and good character and a 25% guilty plea discount produced an effective custodial term (19 months) which the Court converted to nine months' home detention as appropriate in light of rehabilitation prospects, childcare responsibilities, bail compliance and low reoffending risk; concurrent sentences, subst…