New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Foetal alcohol spectrum disorder (fasd)

Legal area

Court

29 Sept 2023

HEKE-GRAY v R [2023] NZCA 474

Citation

[2023] NZCA 474
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held the neuropsychological evidence (FASD/ADHD) was admissible for sentencing purposes but not cogent to have altered the jury's verdicts because the complainant's evidence of non-consent on the key incidents was clear and the expert evidence did not provide a credible narrative that would render an honest belief in consent objectively reasonable; trial directions on consent and propensity were legally adequate and counsel error was harmless; on sentencing the fresh expert evidence changed the risk and rehabilitation assessment such that preventive detention was not the least restr…
5 May 2023

R v G [2023] NZHC 1048

Citation

[2023] NZHC 1048
Court

High Court

Permanent name suppression was necessary because publication would be likely to cause extreme hardship to the defendant given his FASD, intellectual disability, high suggestibility and history of social alienation; that hardship would jeopardise rehabilitation and increase the real risk of reoffending and public harm, and the discretion to suppress should be exercised because open justice is satisfied by permitting publication of diagnoses and reasons for sentence.
14 Sept 2021

R v FAWCETT [2021] NZHC 2406

Citation

[2021] NZHC 2406
Court

High Court

Statements admitted at interview were excluded under s 28 Evidence Act 2006 because, on the balance of probabilities, the circumstances in which they were made — principally the defendant's diagnosed foetal alcohol spectrum disorder producing marked suggestibility, confabulation and impaired recollection combined with the interview history and lack of reliable independent corroboration of his asserted participation — were likely to have adversely affected their reliability; s 29 oppression was not made out beyond reasonable doubt.
30 Jun 2020

R v MT [2020] NZHC 1490

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1490
Court

High Court

The court found on the balance of probabilities (s10 CPMIP) that MT caused the acts constituting kidnapping and murder; having weighed expert reports and clinical material the court concluded detention as a special care recipient under s24(2)(b) CPMIP was necessary in the interests of the public because of the gravity of the offending, significant risk factors and the likelihood of absconding/manipulative behaviour; permanent name suppression was granted to avoid extreme hardship and to protect the identity of a connected suppressed person, subject to exception if MT is later found fit to sta…
12 Dec 2016

DODDS v THE QUEEN [2016] NZHC 3003

Citation

[2016] NZHC 3003
Court

High Court

The Court held the starting point for the 16 March motel burglary was appropriate but the starting point for the 28 March robbery was somewhat excessive; applying the totality principle the correct overall starting point was lower than that adopted below (assessed at five and a half years), the Judge's 25% discount for youth, rehabilitative efforts and FASD and a further 25% for guilty pleas were not plainly wrong, and on recalculation the aggregate sentence should be reduced so that the substituted sentence on the primary charges is three years and one month imprisonment.

New Zealand Case Law

HEKE-GRAY v R [2023] NZCA 474

R v G [2023] NZHC 1048

R v FAWCETT [2021] NZHC 2406

R v MT [2020] NZHC 1490

DODDS v THE QUEEN [2016] NZHC 3003