New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Wounding

Legal area

Court

7 Sept 2022

GEROS v R [2022] NZHC 2269

Citation

[2022] NZHC 2269
Court

High Court

The High Court dismissed the appeal, holding the sentencing Judge did not err in principle or act unreasonably: she expressly considered least restrictive options and rehabilitation but reasonably concluded that, given the gravity of the knife wounding, intrusion into the victim's home and the appellant's violent history, denunciation, deterrence and community protection required imprisonment; the 19 month sentence was not plainly wrong.
16 Dec 2021

R v DIXON [2021] NZHC 3490

Citation

[2021] NZHC 3490
Court

High Court

Given two separate, premeditated kidnappings involving extreme, prolonged and instrumented violence for commercial gain where the defendant was the instigator and sole beneficiary, a global starting point of 16 years imprisonment was appropriate; applying a 20% discount for guilty pleas (3 years 3 months) and a further 20% discount (3 years 3 months) for personal mitigation under s27 (total discounts six years six months) produced an effective concurrent sentence of nine years six months imprisonment.
23 Nov 2020

MARSTERS v R [2020] NZHC 3101

Citation

[2020] NZHC 3101
Court

High Court

The starting point of 24 months' imprisonment was within the available range given the aggravating features and prior similar conviction, and the Judge did not err in principle by imposing six months' home detention rather than community detention; the appeal is dismissed.
15 Oct 2019

R v LAVAKULA [2019] NZHC 2615

Citation

[2019] NZHC 2615
Court

High Court

Court rejected both parties' extreme approaches and decomposed the January offending into component parts, fixed starting points for each component, imposed cumulative consecutive sentences, applied a 15% discount for youth/upbringing/rehabilitation and a 20% discount for the guilty plea, and ordered the second‑strike element (wounding with reckless disregard) to be served without parole; resulting aggregate sentence 7 years 7 months' imprisonment with a minimum period without parole of 2 years 9 months.
20 Aug 2019

TUHI v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2019] NZHC 2046

Citation

[2019] NZHC 2046
Court

High Court

Counsel's admitted failure to advise the appellant of her right to seek a discharge without conviction under s 106 and to make the application constituted a miscarriage of justice; accordingly the conviction, sentence and first strike were quashed and the matter remitted to the District Court to determine a s 106 application.
13 Feb 2018

R v W [2018] NZHC 117

Citation

[2018] NZHC 117
Court

High Court

The defendant's offending over 16 years (serious violence to partner and repeated abuse of children, use of weapons, permanent injuries and control) merited a global starting point of 12 years' imprisonment; the three‑strikes regime did not apply on available evidence; uplift for prior record would risk double counting and was not applied; given exceptional seriousness a minimum period equal to half the sentence (6 years) was required because release after one‑third would be insufficient to achieve sentencing purposes; a mix of cumulative and concurrent terms was used to structure the sentenc…
4 Aug 2017

MACKAY v R [2017] NZCA 337

Citation

[2017] NZCA 337
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held the 14 month absence was admissible as part of the narrative and not unfairly prejudicial, the trial judge properly excluded speculative collusion and irrelevant personal life questions, and provocation did not apply because the attack was prolonged and continued after opportunities to calm down; accordingly there was no miscarriage of justice and both conviction and sentence were upheld.
24 May 2017

RONGONUI v R [2017] NZCA 206

Citation

[2017] NZCA 206
Court

Court of Appeal

Extension of time to appeal granted; convictions for wounding with intent and aggravated burglary were quashed and properly substituted with injuring with intent to cause grievous bodily harm and burglary under s 234 Criminal Procedure Act 2011 because the substituted offences could have been found at trial and the trial judge was necessarily satisfied of the facts; sentencing adjusted using Taueki banding with a starting point of four years, uplift of six months for prior record, and a 25% discount for the plea/consent to substitution resulting in concurrent sentences of three years and four…
10 May 2017

R v WERETA [2017] NZHC 935

Citation

[2017] NZHC 935
Court

High Court

The Court determined the sexual violation against Ms K warranted an 11-year starting point (upper band two), uplifted by three years for the offending against Ms H, producing a combined starting point of 14 years, then applied modest mitigation (just over 5% for guilty pleas) to impose a finite determinate sentence of 13 years' imprisonment with a minimum period of imprisonment of six years six months; preventive detention was declined because the reports and factors did not meet the high threshold for that sentence.
8 Nov 2016

R v CHASE [2016] NZHC 2665

Citation

[2016] NZHC 2665
Court

High Court

On careful assessment of all evidence the complainant was found credible and her accounts corroborated by contemporaneous medical and police records plus multiple independent witnesses and propensity/relationship evidence; where the Crown proved each element of offences beyond reasonable doubt the defendant was convicted; on close issues the accused benefited from reasonable doubt and was acquitted on those counts.