New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments | LexChat

New Zealand Case Law

Autrefois acquit

  • 3 May 2016

    RANGITONGA v PARKER [2016] NZCA 166

    Citation
    [2016] NZAR 768
    Court
    Court of Appeal

    Section 47 must be applied by identifying the central punishable act or omission at the core of the prior and new charges and comparing those central acts; where the central punishable acts are different the new charge does not 'arise from the same facts' and the plea of previous acquittal under s 47 is not available. Applying that test, rape (sexual connection without consent) and injuring (punching and strangling) are distinct central acts, so s 47 did not require dismissal of the injuring charge.

  • 26 Nov 2009

    BUDDLE V R SC 43/2009

    Citation
    SC 43/2009
    Court
    Supreme Court

    A judge may not discharge a jury under the statutory casualty/emergency power in respect of counts on which the jury has indicated unanimous agreement; the trial judge lacked power to withdraw counts from the jury without taking verdicts where jurors indicated unanimous not guilty on specific counts, and failure to take those verdicts was a fundamental deficiency and an abuse of process that caused a miscarriage of justice; therefore the convictions on those counts must be set aside and retrial limited as ordered.