5 Dec 2016
WARD & ANOR v R [2016] NZCA 580
- Citation
- [2016] NZCA 580
- Court
- Court of Appeal
Shining a torch into the vehicle footwell was an external observation and not a search; reaching in to retrieve the pouch was a search but unlawful because the officer who retrieved it lacked the requisite personal reasonable grounds to suspect an Arms Act breach; notwithstanding the unlawfulness, the s30 balancing exercise did not require exclusion of the drug, firearm or cellphone evidence because the privacy intrusion was low, the intrusion brief and not in bad faith, the police acted promptly to invoke lawful powers, the evidence was reliable and the offending was serious.