24 Oct 2023
Remand time that an offender spent in custody, even where resulting from bail breaches, must ordinarily be credited against an imposed home detention sentence unless the breach is egregious or the remand period is negligible; applying this principle to the facts, the Court reduced the home detention to three months to reflect credit for approximately three and a half months in custody.
2 Aug 2023
Offending constituted a medium-to-upper band two Taueki manslaughter (concerted street attack with knife and retreating victim); appropriate starting point was fixed at 7.5 years' imprisonment; discrete mitigating discounts applied were 25% for early guilty plea, 15% for youth, 20% for neurodisability/personal circumstances and 5% for remorse yielding an end sentence of two years and 7.5 months; time served credit (5 years) produced immediate release with standard six-month release conditions and any special conditions imposed by probation officer.
2 Mar 2023
The High Court held the District Court Judge did not err in principle: the three‑month uplift for offending on bail and the four‑month uplift for prior convictions were within the available range and not double‑counting, the credit for time on EM bail and in custody and discounts for guilty plea and rehabilitation were broadly appropriate (not manifestly inadequate), and home detention was an appropriate and not unduly lenient sentence; accordingly the appeal was dismissed.
13 Feb 2023
The Court held the overall effective sentence of 28 months' imprisonment was within the available sentencing range and not manifestly excessive: the 27-month starting point for the June unlawful taking was within range given the linked violence and highly dangerous driving; the total uplift of seven months to reflect prior convictions and breach of bail, while at the upper end, was not disproportionate; and a 22% discount for guilty pleas was appropriate given the strength of the Crown case and the amended charges.
25 Nov 2022
The High Court found no material error in the District Court's sentencing: the 24-month starting point for the Kmart offending was within range given planning, joint enterprise, use and threat of violence and multiple offences; four-month uplifts for the Uber and New World incidents and a further uplift for prior convictions and offending on bail were appropriate; discounts (20% guilty plea given evidential strength, 5% for s 27 factors, two months for EM bail) were appropriate; neither youth nor remorse discounts were warranted; the aggregate sentence of 25 months imprisonment was not manife…
16 Mar 2022
The appeal was allowed in part because the District Court's starting points and the application of the bail uplift were excessive and/or misapplied; the correct adjusted starting points are 26 months for the April strangulation/assault package and 7 months for the July assault (total 33 months), and after applying a combined 33% discount the appropriate cumulative sentence is 22 months; the original 2 years 6 months sentence was therefore manifestly excessive and was quashed and substituted accordingly, with leave granted to apply for home detention under s 80I.
22 Sept 2021
Fresh evidence of ADHD, methamphetamine addiction and rehabilitation was admitted; the Court found the District Court had under-credited the appellant for guilty plea, personal mitigating factors and time on EM bail, adjusted the global starting point (39 months) by allowing a 4-month guilty plea credit (20% of burglary starting point), a 6-month (15%) discount for mental impairment/addiction and rehabilitation, and a 5-month credit for time on EM bail, leading to an adjusted custodial figure which the Court converted to a non-custodial outcome and substituted a ten-month home detention sente…
2 Jul 2021
Court selected a starting point of eight years nine months imprisonment for the manufacturing charges, applied a 12‑month uplift for related possession and precursor charges, declined uplift for the single offering charge, treated offending on bail as negating other personal credit, allowed a 20% guilty plea reduction (two years), resulting in an effective concurrent sentence of seven years nine months imprisonment; ordered destruction of the firearm and forfeiture of cash.
1 Apr 2021
The Judge erred by failing to address and allow some discount for the appellant's lack of any family support in New Zealand which makes imprisonment disproportionately more severe for him as a foreign national; a further 5% reduction (two months off the adopted 40‑month starting point, yielding a 27‑month sentence) is warranted and the District Court sentence of 29 months is quashed and substituted with 27 months imprisonment.
29 Jan 2021
The judge set a starting point of four years imprisonment for kidnapping combined with threats to the primary complainant, added a combined uplift of 15 months for the initial assault and the threat to the teenage witness (reduced for totality), applied further uplifts totalling 12 months for prior convictions and offending while on bail, then applied cumulative discounts totalling 35% (22 months) for background, remorse and a guilty plea, resulting in a final concurrent sentence of four years and five months' imprisonment; a minimum period of imprisonment was declined.