New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Minimum period

Legal area

Court

23 Sept 2020

R v RANSFIELD [2020] NZHC 2487

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2487
Court

High Court

Life imprisonment imposed with a minimum period of 14 years. The judge adopted a 16-year starting point (analogous to R v Mete), allowed a two-year reduction for personal mitigation and guilty plea, and concluded s 104 was not engaged because the level of brutality/callousness was not comparable to authorities requiring 17 years; the personal circumstances (disability, trauma, age, low violent history) made a 17-year minimum manifestly unjust in this case.
10 Jul 2020

R v MORRIS (aka PHIPPS) [2020] NZHC 1662

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1662
Court

High Court

Preventive detention imposed because the offender, despite age and prior treatments, poses a high and ongoing risk of qualifying sexual offending (confirmed by expert assessments and 2017 offending), prior Court of Appeal warning and failure of prior interventions meant no finite sentence would adequately protect the public; minimum period fixed at five years; concurrent determinate terms imposed for non‑qualifying historical counts resulting in an effective sentence of preventive detention.
25 Oct 2019

R v WERETA [2019] NZHC 2734

Citation

[2019] NZHC 2734
Court

High Court

Preventive detention was necessary because the offender posed a high and enduring risk of serious violent reoffending given the extreme, gang-motivated prison attack, his extensive violent history and expert risk opinions; however a 14-year minimum would be manifestly unjust and counterproductive, so preventive detention was imposed with an eight-year minimum to protect the public while preserving incentive for rehabilitation.
18 Oct 2018

R v DUFF [2018] NZHC 2690

Citation

[2018] NZHC 2690
Court

High Court

The defendant murdered his nine-month-old daughter by multiple applications of significant blunt force to the head; this conduct engages the especially bad murder provision and, after weighing aggravating features and the cultural/personal background, a minimum period of 17 years before parole is appropriate and not manifestly unjust; no uplift was applied for prior convictions given mitigating background factors.
12 Jun 2018

R v ADAMS [2018] NZHC 1386

Citation

[2018] NZHC 1386
Court

High Court

Adopted a determinate sentence of six years five months imprisonment with a minimum term of 60%, and declined preventive detention because, despite a high risk profile, there was no established pattern of prior sexual offending, the offender had not yet undergone targeted sexual-offending treatment, and a lengthy determinate sentence combined with prospective extended supervision provided adequate community protection.
18 Apr 2016

R v MARSH [2016] NZHC 747

Citation

[2016] NZHC 747
Court

High Court

Starting point fixed at 12 years for the most serious offending (Victim 4) due to premeditation, breach of trust, knife threat and severe strangulation; uplift of four years to reflect very serious additional offending against other victims producing a principal sentence of 16 years, reduced by a 15% youth discount to an end sentence of 13.5 years' imprisonment; minimum term imposed at 50% (6 years 9 months).

New Zealand Case Law

R v RANSFIELD [2020] NZHC 2487

R v MORRIS (aka PHIPPS) [2020] NZHC 1662

R v WERETA [2019] NZHC 2734

R v DUFF [2018] NZHC 2690

R v ADAMS [2018] NZHC 1386

R v MARSH [2016] NZHC 747