New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Minimum term of imprisonment

Legal area

Court

15 Apr 2021

R v TATHAM [2021] NZHC 815

Citation

[2021] NZHC 815
Court

High Court

Court determined an appropriate combined starting point of 14 years imprisonment after accounting for totality, applied a two year uplift for prior similar convictions committed shortly after release, then applied discounts totalling three years six months for plea and prior recognition of willingness to rehabilitate and a further one year reduction for upbringing factors, producing an end global sentence of 11 years six months; because the defendant was already serving eight years, an additional cumulative term of three years six months was imposed on the present charges; no minimum term was…
30 Apr 2020

JOYCE v R [2020] NZCA 124

Citation

[2020] NZCA 124
Court

Court of Appeal

Fresh evidence of rehabilitation admitted; appellant's role was retail-level dealing within lower end of Zhang band two so global starting point set at 4 years; firearms associated with drug dealing justified an 18 month uplift; prior drug convictions and offending while under supervision justified a further uplift of 4 months; discounts of 12 months for restrictive EM bail and 7 months for addiction and demonstrable rehabilitation reduced the end sentence to 4 years 3 months imprisonment served concurrently on the drug charges; the minimum term of 3 years was unjustified and quashed.
11 Mar 2020

WOOD v R [2020] NZCA 48

Citation

[2020] NZCA 48
Court

Court of Appeal

Given prolonged, premeditated Ponzi-style offending causing substantial losses to many vulnerable investors and serious breach of trust, the Court found the Judge's starting point of eight years nine months was within range but increased global mitigation to reflect good character, cooperation, remorse and an early guilty plea, resulting in substituted concurrent sentences of five years six months and a minimum term of two years six months before parole eligibility.
27 Apr 2018

R v DHILLON [2018] NZHC 820

Citation

[2018] NZHC 820
Court

High Court

The Court set an aggregate starting point of 12.5 years for all offending, applied a 25% discount (3 years 2 months) for guilty pleas, allowed a further 5 months reduction for remorse/rehabilitative efforts and willingness to participate in restorative justice but refused additional credit for serving the sentence in New Zealand; the resulting end sentence is 8 years 11 months imprisonment (concurrent), with a minimum term of imprisonment of 3 years 10 months on each aggravated robbery, and concurrent 18 month sentences on the robbery and burglary counts.

New Zealand Case Law

R v TATHAM [2021] NZHC 815

JOYCE v R [2020] NZCA 124

WOOD v R [2020] NZCA 48

R v DHILLON [2018] NZHC 820