New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Manifest injustice test

Legal area

Court

6 Nov 2023

R v TAYLOR [2023] NZHC 3124

Citation

[2023] NZHC 3124
Court

High Court

Court found the killing was particularly brutal such that s104 engaged and a 17 year MPI was the starting point; after allowing two years for an early guilty plea and five years for youth, abusive background and mental health (total seven years mitigation) the MPI was reduced to 10 years; the presumption of life imprisonment under s102 was not displaced because the injustice of imposing life was not manifestly clear in the overall assessment; life imprisonment with MPI of 10 years imposed and firearms prohibition order declined.
25 Mar 2021

R v KIRIHI BOB PHILLIPS [2021] NZHC 610

Citation

[2021] NZHC 610
Court

High Court

The court held s86D required imposition of the statutory maximum sentence of seven years for the Stage 3 indecent assault conviction but, exercising the limited discretion under s86D(3), found it would be manifestly unjust to require the defendant to serve the whole sentence without parole given the nature and lower-end gravity of the offending, the similarity of the Stage 1 offending, time already served and significant rehabilitative needs; the court therefore imposed seven years imprisonment but declined to order no-parole and allowed parole eligibility after one-third (two years four mont…