New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Life imprisonment and parole
  • 27 Jan 2023

    DICKEY v R [2023] NZCA 2

    Citation
    [2023] 2 NZLR 405
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    The Court held that for each appellant the sentence of life imprisonment with a mandatory MPI of 10 years was manifestly unjust on the facts. Manifest injustice was found by assessing overall culpability and personal mitigating factors (youth, neurodevelopmental immaturity, cognitive and mental health impairments, traumatic and deprived upbringing, guilty pleas and assistance), and by recognising the disproportionate impact of an indeterminate life sentence coupled with a 10-year MPI and lifetime parole on young offenders. The Court quashed the life sentences and substituted determinate sente…