New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Cultural factors in sentencing

Legal area

Court

27 Feb 2023

R v TAWHAI [2023] NZHC 311

Citation

[2023] NZHC 311
Court

High Court

Because the wounding resulted from the burglary the court set a single starting point for aggravated burglary taking the firearm discharge and wounding into account (starting point eight years for this participant), refused a separate uplift for the additional charge based on the same conduct, applied a 25% discount for the guilty plea and approximately 10% discount for personal mitigation (youth, cultural factors, addiction) resulting in an effective concurrent sentence of five years two months' imprisonment.
8 Dec 2022

SCOTT v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2022] NZHC 3295

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3295
Court

High Court

The High Court dismissed the appeal: the 10 month starting point for the unlawful use of the vehicle was within the available range given the use of the vehicle to flee police and traffic offending; the s 27 cultural report should have attracted a marginally higher discount (an additional 5% equating to about one month) but that error was not material and did not make the final 18 month sentence manifestly excessive, so the sentence was affirmed.
9 May 2022

NGAMOKI v R [2022] NZCA 171

Citation

[2022] NZCA 171
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held there was no error in the judge's refusal to adjust for totality because the aggregate sentence of eight years and two months was not wholly out of proportion to the gravity of the overall offending; the individual sentences and discounts were within range; violent offending in prison legitimately attracted a stern response; and the totality test in s 85 was not met.
21 Dec 2021

RATAHI v POLICE [2021] NZHC 3586

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3586
Court

High Court

The High Court found the District Court's 3 year 2 month starting point for kidnapping was manifestly excessive in light of comparable authorities and facts; the appropriate starting point was 2 years 9 months (33 months). After uplifts and discounts the proper end sentence was 23 months' imprisonment which the Court converted to 12 months' electronically monitored home detention given the offender's rehabilitative prospects and the PAC report recommending a community-based sentence.
17 Dec 2021

R v LONG AND ZHANG [2021] NZHC 3522

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3522
Court

High Court

Court set a six year starting point for both defendants based on magnitude, premeditation, breach of trust and moderate sophistication; deducted 20% to reflect substantial repayments and share transfers (adjusted starting point 4 years 9 months) and further deducted for personal mitigation (good character, guilty plea, remorse, cultural and family factors) resulting in a final sentence of two years and ten months' imprisonment for each defendant; share transfers were accepted as part of reparation credit and late Crown disclosure justified an above-minimum guilty plea discount.
23 Jun 2020

R v SIMEON [2020] NZHC 1421

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1421
Court

High Court

Life imprisonment is the mandatory sentence for murder; s104(1)(e) was not engaged because the degree of brutality and callousness did not meet the high threshold established by authorities; appropriate starting point 13 years, reduced by 18 months for guilty plea and a further 9 months for personal mitigation (remorse, cultural deprivation, limited youth discount) resulting in a minimum period of 10 years and nine months before parole eligibility.
15 Aug 2017

LAL v POLICE [2017] NZHC 1944

Citation

[2017] NZHC 1944
Court

High Court

The appeal is dismissed because the District Court judge did not err in refusing an adjournment nor in imposing a 16 month sentence: the offender's significant recidivism, the high breath alcohol levels, and that the index offending occurred while he was serving a community sentence justified imprisonment; the material advanced on appeal was not sufficiently fresh or capable of showing the end sentence was manifestly excessive to warrant substitution with home detention.

New Zealand Case Law

R v TAWHAI [2023] NZHC 311

SCOTT v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2022] NZHC 3295

NGAMOKI v R [2022] NZCA 171

RATAHI v POLICE [2021] NZHC 3586

R v LONG AND ZHANG [2021] NZHC 3522

R v SIMEON [2020] NZHC 1421

LAL v POLICE [2017] NZHC 1944