New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Dismissal under s147 criminal procedure act

Legal area

Court

15 Jul 2022

R v ORMSBY [2022] NZHC 1711

Citation

[2022] NZHC 1711
Court

High Court

Adopt Downs J's starting point of four years for money laundering, uplift by six months for cannabis possession and four months for relevant prior convictions to reach 4 years 10 months; apply a 25% guilty plea discount for parity with co-defendants and a 12% discount for cultural and personal mitigation, yielding a total 37% reduction to a three year sentence; impose a minimum period of imprisonment of one year and six months (50%) because a one year non‑parole period would be insufficient to achieve accountability, denunciation and deterrence in light of the offending and authority in Chai…
10 Jun 2022

GREENDRAKE v McCONNOCHIE [2022] NZHC 1369

Citation

[2022] NZHC 1369
Court

High Court

Leave to appeal was refused because the asserted grounds did not establish an arguable error of law. The trial judge lawfully applied Evidence Act provisions in excluding a dock identification and in controlling re‑examination, and his findings that the prosecution failed to prove identification and other elements beyond reasonable doubt were open on the evidence; no miscarriage of justice was shown to justify ordering a new trial.
10 Nov 2017

R v PIAHANA & MATTHEWS [2017] NZHC 2763

Citation

[2017] NZHC 2763
Court

High Court

Where defendants were low-level 'catchers' with limited culpability and substantial personal mitigators (serious physical and mental ill health, age, family responsibilities, lack of prior offending and genuine remorse) the Court reduced the standard starting point for attempted importation (adopted lower starting points than Crown suggested), applied substantial percentage discounts (including 25% for ill health in Matthews, other discounts for remorse, good character and guilty plea) and concluded the least restrictive appropriate sanction was 11 months home detention for each defendant; co…
27 Jun 2017

LIEV & ANOR v R [2017] NZHC 1439

Citation

[2017] NZHC 1439
Court

High Court

The s147 applications were declined because there was sufficient credible evidence that a properly directed jury could reasonably convict either defendant of manslaughter as a party: evidence supported inferences of planning, assistance, prolonged detention and foreseeability of the victim's attempt to escape, and there was no established effective withdrawal that would negate party liability.

New Zealand Case Law

R v ORMSBY [2022] NZHC 1711

GREENDRAKE v McCONNOCHIE [2022] NZHC 1369

R v PIAHANA & MATTHEWS [2017] NZHC 2763

LIEV & ANOR v R [2017] NZHC 1439