New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Home detention breach

Legal area

Court

6 Nov 2020

RAHIPERE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2020] NZHC 2902

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2902
Court

High Court

The appeal was allowed because the Judge erred in not giving sufficient credit for mitigating factors (notably addiction and personal circumstances) and in failing to adjust cumulative sentences to reflect totality. The Court reduced the sentences imposed on the second set of charges from 21 months to concurrent terms of 15 months, to be served cumulatively on the existing 15 months sentence for the first set, producing an overall effective sentence of 30 months imprisonment.
27 Oct 2020

SOLICITOR-GENERAL v CRAWFORD [2020] NZHC 2809

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2809
Court

High Court

Because Parole Act definitions distinguish release date (half term for short-term sentences) from sentence expiry date (full term), 'completed serving' for s249 means the sentence expiry date; the respondent's four month determinate sentence reached its expiry date before the appeal was heard, so the prosecutor's appeal lapsed under s249 and the High Court lacked jurisdiction to hear it, requiring dismissal of the appeal.
17 Sept 2020

SIMON v POLICE [2020] NZHC 2430

Citation

[2020] NZHC 2430
Court

High Court

The District Court's sentence was manifestly excessive on the facts: an appropriate approach was an 18-month starting point for the first burglary, a nine-month uplift for the related second burglary and two three-month uplifts for home detention breach and offending while under sentence (total starting point 33 months), from which the Court allowed a 15% reduction for late guilty pleas and a further 15% discrete reduction for causal contribution of the appellant's personal and cultural background (s27 material), producing an effective sentence of 23 months for the burglaries plus a cumulativ…
12 Jun 2020

ASHBY v R [2020] NZHC 1330

Citation

[2020] NZHC 1330
Court

High Court

Section 65AE requires the period of disqualification to reflect the period the offender is actually "in prison" (one of the comparator periods in s 65AE), not simply the nominal sentence length; accordingly the 15 month fixed disqualification was inconsistent with s 65AE and must be quashed and replaced by an order disqualifying the offender until the date of his release from prison.
10 Dec 2018

SMITH v NZ POLICE [2018] NZHC 3236

Citation

[2018] NZHC 3236
Court

High Court

Leave to appeal out of time was refused because the proposed appeal lacked substantive merit: the Judge's construction of the sentence (starting points, uplifts, guilty plea and youth discounts) produced an end sentence of 30 months that was within the permissible range given the seriousness and multiplicity of offences and the appellant's poor record, so the sentence was not manifestly excessive.
13 Nov 2018

WILLIAMS v R [2018] NZHC 2945

Citation

[2018] NZHC 2945
Court

High Court

The High Court found the sentencing Judge's starting point (4 years 3 months) and subsequent uplifts were within the available range given Ms Williams' role, prior relevant convictions and offending while on home detention; the four-month totality reduction and 25% guilty plea discount yielded a final sentence of 3 years 11 months which was not manifestly excessive; pre-sentence detention between the application and sentencing is to be credited by Corrections following Booth and did not render the sentence excessive; no hardship discount was warranted given offending occurred with children in…
6 Jun 2017

LAWRIE v THE QUEEN [2017] NZHC 1222

Citation

[2017] NZHC 1222
Court

High Court

The Court held the starting point of 25 months was within the appropriate range because the offending demonstrated at least low-level commerciality; modest uplifts for prior convictions and concurrent offending were justified; discounts for guilty pleas and rehabilitation were necessarily limited; insufficient evidence supported a significant discount for restrictive bail; therefore the 26 month sentence was not manifestly excessive and the appeal was dismissed.
11 Jul 2016

LEACH v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2016] NZHC 1565

Citation

[2016] NZHC 1565
Court

High Court

Uplifts for prior convictions and for offending while serving a sentence were properly applied cumulatively under the Sentencing Act; however the discount for youth was understated so the appropriate adjustment was to increase youth discount to six months and substitute an overall sentence of two years imprisonment.