New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Youth and rehabilitation

  • 4 Oct 2023

    GOODWIN v R [2023] NZHC 2771

    Citation
    [2023] NZHC 2771
    Court
    High Court

    The judge lawfully exercised sentencing discretion by assessing and applying discounts for youth, rehabilitation and cultural/addiction factors in the aggregate; discounts for youth typically fall between 10–30% and may overlap with rehabilitation discounts, and a 25% overall discount for those factors was within the available range given the seriousness and aggravating features of the offending, so the sentence was not manifestly excessive.

    • Grievous bodily harm with intent
    • Sentencing discounts
    • Youth and rehabilitation
    • Guilty plea
    • Drug supply

  • 7 Nov 2022

    MCLEAN v THE KING [2022] NZHC 2902

    Citation
    [2022] NZHC 2902
    Court
    High Court

    The District Court erred only in selecting an excessive starting point for the attempt to pervert the course of justice; no impermissible double counting of prior convictions occurred; the 15% uplift for prior convictions and offending on bail was appropriate; home detention was not available because the offender was ineligible for a short‑term sentence under s15A, and the appropriate substituted sentence is two years and ten months' imprisonment.

    • Entry onto agricultural land with intent to commit an imprisonable offence (s231a)
    • Attempt to pervert the course of justice
    • Unlawful possession of ammunition
    • Driving while disqualified
    • Unlawful hunting
    • Starting point and totality

  • 26 Jul 2022

    BAILEY v R [2022] NZCA 335

    Citation
    [2022] NZCA 335
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    Setting aside the NIA material, the appellant's intoxication, unprovoked pushing of officers and subsequent punch causing serious injury made the offending moderately serious; the appellant's youth and post-offence rehabilitation were insufficient to render the direct and indirect consequences of conviction out of all proportion to that gravity; therefore the District Court judge's refusal to discharge was upheld and the appeal dismissed, with extension of time and admission of further evidence allowed.

    • Discharge without conviction
    • Assault on constable
    • Good character
    • Nia police records
    • Proportionality test
    • Youth and rehabilitation

  • 11 Jun 2018

    R v KAREKARE [2018] NZHC 1364

    Citation
    [2018] NZHC 1364
    Court
    High Court

    Adopt the co-offenders' starting point of five and a half years, uplift by six months for the perverting-the-course offence (total 72 months); apply a 35% reduction for personal mitigation (20% youth/immaturity, 10% good character/remorse/reparation, 5% rehabilitation) to reach 47 months, then apply a 10% guilty plea discount to reach a final sentence of 42 months' imprisonment; concurrent two year sentence for perverting the course of justice; order reparation of NZD 3,000 payable at NZD 20 per week after release.

    • Grievous bodily harm
    • Perverting the course of justice
    • Guilty plea discount
    • Youth and rehabilitation
    • Consistency of sentencing
    • Provocation

  • 12 Feb 2018

    STROOBANT v R [2018] NZCA 10

    Citation
    [2018] NZCA 10
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    The Court dismissed the appeal and upheld preventive detention because the s 87(2) prerequisites were satisfied and, after weighing the mandatory s 87(4) factors, the sentencing Judge correctly concluded the appellant posed a high risk of future sexual and violent offending (supported by psychiatric evidence), had failed to engage with rehabilitation, and community protection and incentivising treatment justified preventive detention despite youth and concurrent life sentence; totality and concurrent sentencing did not preclude imposing preventive detention.

    • Preventive detention
    • S 87 sentencing act 2002
    • Totality principle
    • Youth and rehabilitation
    • Risk assessment