New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

Topic

Sentence starting point and uplift

Legal area

Court

30 Sept 2021

SPENCE v R [2021] NZCA 499

Citation

[2021] NZCA 499
Court

Court of Appeal

Fresh psychiatric evidence may be admitted on appeal if cogent and materially adds to the material before the sentencing Judge; where a director's dishonesty under s138A caused large but not precisely quantified losses (here assessed between $500,000 and $1,000,000) through repeated phoenix transfers, the appropriate starting point must reflect statutory maximums and comparative authorities; mitigation based on medical/psychological evidence requires persuasive independent evidence and limited weight may be given to self‑reporting; applying those principles the Court reduced the global starti…
23 Sept 2016

HADDON v R [2016] NZCA 460

Citation

[2016] NZCA 460
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court granted an extension of time and held the jury verdicts were not unreasonable because the totality of circumstantial evidence (frequent use of lock up, hidden drugs and firearms, scales and pipes, large disposable cash, multiple phones/SIMs including in appellant's possession, and DNA linkage) provided a sufficient basis for a reasonable jury to convict; the sentencing Judge reasonably treated appellant as principal/co-principal and the sentence was within the appropriate range, so the appeals against conviction and sentence were dismissed.