New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Diminished responsibility

Legal area

Court

27 Jun 2022

SAMSON v R [2022] NZCA 266

Citation

[2022] NZCA 266
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court admitted the withheld psychiatric report despite it being prepared before sentencing because the judge had been deprived of expert material he expected and the report materially informed causation and mitigation issues; however, on overall impression the MPI of 17 years was not manifestly unjust because the appellant's severe upbringing and Complex PTSD, while mitigating, did not establish diminished responsibility or impaired reality testing, the murder was premeditated, extremely brutal and callous, and the appellant's serious prior history of domestic violence offset any mitigati…
9 May 2017

CHRISTISON v R [2017] NZCA 168

Citation

[2017] NZCA 168
Court

Court of Appeal

S 104 applied and given the proved aggravating factors (calculated planning, unlawful entry/presence in a dwelling, and high brutality/callousness) a starting point MPI in the 18–20 year range was open; the sentencing Judge adequately considered mitigating factors (remorse, depression/diminished responsibility, guilty plea) and any implicit discount did not make the 17 year MPI manifestly unjust; therefore the extension of time is granted and the appeal against sentence is dismissed.
3 Mar 2017

SHAILER v R [2017] NZCA 38

Citation

[2017] 2 NZLR 269
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held the offending by both appellants — prolonged, extreme, joint assaults and failure to seek medical treatment of a defenceless three year old — fell within the most serious manslaughter cases such that a life starting point was appropriate; Shailer's mental disorders did not materially diminish culpability on the facts; Haerewa was not merely a secondary participant; the sentencing Judge permissibly converted an otherwise appropriate life starting point into a finite global sentence of 17 years to reflect early guilty pleas and personal mitigation and imposed a nine year minimum…
11 Feb 2016

R v KINGI [2016] NZHC 139

Citation

[2016] NZHC 139
Court

High Court

The Court held that although s86E mandates life imprisonment without parole for a stage 2 murder unless it would be manifestly unjust, on the facts before it (offender's age, extensive serious mental illness reducing culpability, early guilty plea, remorse, prospects for rehabilitation, and the relatively minor first strike) imposing life without parole would be manifestly unjust; therefore the offender is sentenced to life imprisonment with a minimum period of 13 years.

New Zealand Case Law

SAMSON v R [2022] NZCA 266

CHRISTISON v R [2017] NZCA 168

SHAILER v R [2017] NZCA 38

R v KINGI [2016] NZHC 139