New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Double counting of criminal history

Legal area

Court

15 Jun 2021

DEADMAN v THE NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZHC 1406

Citation

[2021] NZHC 1406
Court

High Court

The High Court held the District Court's cumulative starting point for the EBA and related disqualified driving offending was excessive; the proper characterization was multiple offences with seriously aggravating factors warranting a 20‑month starting point for the EBA charges (not 30), the separate December disqualified driving sentence of six months remained appropriate, the four‑month uplift for history amounted to impermissible double counting, and after applying a 25% discount the substituted global sentence is 22 months' imprisonment.
22 Dec 2020

VALE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 3520

Citation

[2020] NZHC 3520
Court

High Court

The District Court mixed Senior and Taueki approaches and thereby risked double counting Mr Vale's criminal history; treating the index offending in isolation warranted a nine month starting point, a three month uplift for prior burglaries, and a 40% mitigation discount (including guilty plea), resulting in an appropriate substituted sentence of eight months' imprisonment; judges must avoid factoring criminal history more than once and must account for mental illness and poverty as mitigation where applicable.
11 Feb 2020

RUSSELL & HOKAI v POLICE [2020] NZHC 127

Citation

[2020] NZHC 127
Court

High Court

The High Court held the District Court's assessment that the offending fell within band two and its 24 month starting point (reduced to 18 months after full guilty plea discount) was within the permissible range; the sentence was not manifestly excessive and an additional reduction for totality was not required given the seriousness of prison offending and the need for a stern deterrent response.

New Zealand Case Law

DEADMAN v THE NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZHC 1406

VALE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 3520

RUSSELL & HOKAI v POLICE [2020] NZHC 127