New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Concurrent versus cumulative sentencing

Legal area

Court

19 Dec 2022

ROWE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2022] NZHC 3549

Citation

[2022] NZHC 3549
Court

High Court

The High Court allowed the appeal and ordered the three‑month sentence to be served concurrently with the existing sentence because imposing the three months cumulatively converted the notional total into a long‑term sentence and extended the appellant's release date by 15 months, which was wholly out of proportion to the gravity of the overall offending and breached the totality principle; the District Court had erred by failing to address this effect.
2 Jul 2020

WHITE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 1535

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1535
Court

High Court

The District Court's sentence was manifestly excessive because the starting point and uplifts for the protection order breaches were higher than justified; the Court reduced the first breach starting point to 12 months, allowed a combined uplift of five months for the second and third breaches, retained a seven-month uplift for offending while on sentence and in custody/bail, and applied discounts of 5% for personal mitigation and 25% for guilty plea, resulting in a substituted end sentence of 26 months' imprisonment.
1 Jul 2020

LANGE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 1531

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1531
Court

High Court

The Court dismissed the appeal and upheld the disqualification of 27 months because the total period was not manifestly excessive given the mandatory statutory minima, the serious aggravating features and distinct episodes of deliberate re‑offending; the only sentencing error favoured the appellant (misapprehension of a 6‑month rather than 12‑month minimum for refusal) but did not require resentencing.
3 Feb 2020

JENNER v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 62

Citation

[2020] NZHC 62
Court

High Court

Appeal allowed in part: the High Court held the District Court erred by effectively double‑counting the additional offences and failing to acknowledge EM bail; the proper disposition is that the 18‑month sentence for assault with intent to injure and breach of a protection order must run concurrently with the three‑year strangulation sentence, and the three‑year sentence on strangulation remains appropriate when modest credit for EM bail is factored in.

New Zealand Case Law

ROWE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2022] NZHC 3549

WHITE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 1535

LANGE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 1531

JENNER v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 62