New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Cultural report s27

Legal area

Court

25 May 2023

SILULU v R [2023] NZHC 1244

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1244
Court

High Court

The High Court admitted the s27 cultural report as it was in the interests of justice, found the appellant's methamphetamine addiction and adverse childhood/gang exposure made a causative contribution to the offending and warranted a discrete 10% reduction of the adjusted starting point, found no additional uplift was necessary because prior offending was effectively reflected in the judge's adopted starting point and the EM bail credit had been accounted for, and quashed and substituted the District Court sentence with a reduced sentence of two years, two months and two weeks' imprisonment w…
16 Aug 2021

ROBERTS v R [2021] NZHC 2128

Citation

[2021] NZHC 2128
Court

High Court

The sentencing judge did not err in principle or exceed judicial discretion: the judge permissibly doubted the genuineness of remorse, properly limited or declined credit for EM bail because of breaches and absconding, reasonably treated the s27 factors as at best arguable causation insufficient to reduce the end sentence, and the aggravating features justified a starting point at least equal to that adopted under R v Mako such that the three year sentence was not manifestly excessive.
17 Jun 2021

SEAN PATRICK BRODERICK v DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS and NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZHC 1918

Citation

[2021] NZHC 1918
Court

High Court

The High Court held that the re-sentencing Judge was entitled to reject discounts for remorse and rehabilitation given the subsequent breach and offending, but erred by failing to allow any discount for personal and cultural factors under s27; applying a 15% adjustment for those factors (in addition to the 25% guilty plea credit) and adding two months for the new offences produced an appropriate global sentence of 19 months' imprisonment, quashing the 23 month sentence and confirming cancellation of the earlier home detention.
4 Jun 2021

ASHBY v POLICE [2021] NZHC 1306

Citation

[2021] NZHC 1306
Court

High Court

The High Court allowed the appeal, holding the sentencing Judge should have given a further discount for the s27 cultural report material because there was a demonstrable nexus between the appellant's childhood deprivation/anger issues and the violent and related driving offending which reduced moral culpability; balancing that reduction against the need for denunciation, accountability and protection warranted an additional 10–15% personal mitigation (the Court adopted 15%), and applying the two‑stage approach with the existing 20% guilty plea discount produced a 35% total discount resulting…
30 Apr 2021

BARTLETT v R [2021] NZCA 152

Citation

[2021] NZCA 152
Court

Court of Appeal

No miscarriage of justice: Crown's opening, while using 'overwhelming', did not deprive jury of impartial assessment given context and judicial directions; closing was proper advocacy and case on identity was overwhelming; police re-questioning about newly discovered keys after re-cautioning was not overbearing and the statements were admissible; sentencing Judge properly applied s 27 factors, allowed a one year (10%) discount and the overall nine year sentence was not manifestly excessive.
18 Dec 2020

TUWHANGAI v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 3428

Citation

[2020] NZHC 3428
Court

High Court

The District Court judge properly refused home detention based on an evaluative judgment that the appellant had shown no genuine remorse, had minimised his offending and presented a high risk of harm that required denunciation and deterrence; however the High Court allowed the appeal and substituted a rehabilitative response because the appellant was a young, first time offender at significant risk of gang recruitment for whom continued imprisonment risked entrenching offending and the objectives of rehabilitation and reintegration could be better served by a structured period of home detenti…
16 Dec 2020

SOUTHERN v R [2020] NZHC 3347

Citation

[2020] NZHC 3347
Court

High Court

Leave to appeal out of time was granted as the explanation and interests of justice justified it, but the appeal was dismissed because the sentencing judge correctly identified the offending as at the top of Band 1 under R v AM, appropriately applied an uplift for attempting to pervert the course of justice, permissibly allowed a modest (approx. 5%) s27 discount and a full 25% guilty plea discount, and there was no error that produced a sentence outside the proper range.

New Zealand Case Law

SILULU v R [2023] NZHC 1244

ROBERTS v R [2021] NZHC 2128

SEAN PATRICK BRODERICK v DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS and NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZHC 1918

ASHBY v POLICE [2021] NZHC 1306

BARTLETT v R [2021] NZCA 152

TUWHANGAI v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 3428

SOUTHERN v R [2020] NZHC 3347