New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Admissibility of bad character evidence

  • 13 Oct 2021

    TE KIRI GEOFFREY WILLIAMS v R [2021] NZCA 535

    Citation
    [2021] NZCA 535
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    Extension of time for filing appeal granted; the trial as a whole was not unfair — the majority of the disputed complainant evidence was either signalled pre‑trial, admissible as relationship/context evidence or responsive to robust cross‑examination, the trial judge's directions and exercise of discretion were adequate, veracity evidence of defence witness was admissible, and the Crown's witness decisions did not undermine the defence. On sentence, the nine years starting point for rape and total sentence of nine years two months (with concurrent terms on other charges) and the discounts app…

    • Unfair trial
    • Relationship propensity evidence
    • Admissibility of bad character evidence
    • Veracity and prior inconsistent statements
    • Jury directions on prejudice and sympathy
    • Extension of time for appeal

  • 27 Aug 2019

    PAUL v R [2019] NZCA 390

    Citation
    [2019] NZCA 390
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    The appeal was dismissed because the challenged evidence and s 9 counter-intuitive statement were admissible and not used improperly to decide credibility of the particular complainant, the trial Judge's interventions and some undesirable questioning did not create a real risk of miscarriage of justice, and the jury could reasonably rely on the complainant's pre-recorded interview and contextual evidence to convict on the 2015 touching charge.

    • Sexual conduct with a child
    • Sexual violation
    • Admissibility of bad character evidence
    • Counter-intuitive (educative) evidence
    • Jury directions
    • Cross-examination limits