New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Evidence act 2006 s18

Legal area

Court

26 Aug 2020

GRACE v ORION NEW ZEALAND LIMITED [2020] NZHC 2176

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2176
Court

High Court

The court held that statements offered to prove the truth of their contents are inadmissible under s17 Evidence Act 2006 unless admissible under s18 on reliability grounds; admission of supplementary briefs is discretionary under r9.8 and leave may be granted where prejudice is limited and justice requires; expert opinion from Donnellan was admissible where within his expertise and properly tested by cross-examination, but discrete passages that amount to unsupported submissions or add little probative value are excluded. Applying these principles the Court admitted background and expert-opin…
10 Aug 2018

NORMAN GLASS SERVICES LTD v NORMAN [2018] NZHC 2043

Citation

[2018] NZHC 2043
Court

High Court

The court admitted Mr MacLaren's affidavit and prior cross‑examination transcript as hearsay under s18(1) because he was unavailable under s16(2) and the statements, having been sworn and previously subject to cross‑examination, provided reasonable assurance of reliability; any potential unfairness from late notice did not outweigh admissibility and the weight to be given remains for the trial submissions.
13 Sept 2016

HARMER v THE QUEEN [2016] NZHC 2155

Citation

[2016] NZHC 2155
Court

High Court

The High Court found the District Court judge erred by failing to make an explicit finding of the witness's unavailability under s16(2) before admitting hearsay, but that error did not produce a miscarriage of justice because the hearsay was materially corroborated by live witness evidence and defence had opportunity to test the core matters; the evidence did not support attributing use of the spade to Harmer for aggravated charges, so Harmer's convictions for aggravated burglary and assault with a weapon were substituted with convictions for burglary and assault as a party under s66(2).
31 May 2016

RITCHIE v R [2016] NZCA 230

Citation

[2016] NZCA 230
Court

Court of Appeal

Leave granted and appeal allowed: the Court set aside the District Court ruling admitting Dr Kelly's record under s19 because the Judge erred in dispensing with s22 notice, failed to give parties opportunity to be heard on s19, and lacked evidence that the child was unavailable or could not reasonably be expected to recollect; the Court also upheld the District Court's express finding that the statement was not admissible under s18.
3 May 2016

R v ERIHE [2016] NZCA 168

Citation

[2016] NZCA 168
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held that the High Court judgment did resolve the admissibility of A's hearsay evidence under s18 in favour of admission and that the appeal must be dismissed; however the High Court did not resolve the separate question of receipt or exclusion under s8 in the event charges are severed, which remains open.

New Zealand Case Law

GRACE v ORION NEW ZEALAND LIMITED [2020] NZHC 2176

NORMAN GLASS SERVICES LTD v NORMAN [2018] NZHC 2043

HARMER v THE QUEEN [2016] NZHC 2155

RITCHIE v R [2016] NZCA 230

R v ERIHE [2016] NZCA 168