New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Sentencing uplift and discounts

Legal area

Court

23 Dec 2020

FRASER v R [2020] NZHC 3504

Citation

[2020] NZHC 3504
Court

High Court

The cultural report prepared under s27 was admissible and demonstrated a direct and credible linkage between Fraser's adverse cultural and personal history (childhood sexual abuse, substance abuse, loss and gang membership) and the offending, reducing moral culpability; this justified an additional five-month discount. The guilty plea discount must be recalculated from the starting point in line with Moses. Recalculation produced a final sentence of 32 months' imprisonment, so the appeal is allowed and the District Court sentence quashed and replaced accordingly.
29 Nov 2018

R v NATHAN [2018] NZHC 3111

Citation

[2018] NZHC 3111
Court

High Court

Where the defendant was an important and willing participant but not a full participant and lacked knowledge of the firearm and intended tying up of victims, the defendant's culpability is reduced relative to principals; applying Mako guideline a five year starting point was appropriate, uplift of four months applied for offending while subject to a previous sentence, and discounts were applied for genuine remorse and rehabilitation (nine months), impact on dependent children (three months), and a guilty plea discount limited to eight months, resulting in an overall sentence of three years an…
28 Mar 2017

HOHUA v R [2017] NZCA 89

Citation

[2017] NZCA 89
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court dismissed the appeal: the trial judge correctly applied the Best framework, accepting an evidential foundation existed but rightly excluded the prior complaint because it would not be substantially helpful and risked an extensive trial within a trial; the jury verdicts were not inconsistent because the jury could reject the appellant's account and accept the complainant as to digital penetration but not as to rape; the late direction on penetration did not cause miscarriage; and the sentence, including uplifts and discounts, was within the permitted range.

New Zealand Case Law

FRASER v R [2020] NZHC 3504

R v NATHAN [2018] NZHC 3111

HOHUA v R [2017] NZCA 89