New Zealand Case Law: Decisions & Judgments

Topic

Vulnerability and breach of trust

Legal area

Court

31 Mar 2023

R v MARU [2023] NZHC 790

Citation

[2023] NZHC 790
Court

High Court

Court adopted starting points of five years for manslaughter and one year for attempting to pervert the course of justice (combined six years), found defendant's culpability reduced by PTSD and substance disorders materially connected to loss of self-control and substantial psychosocial stressors, applied aggregated discounts (guilty plea 25%, good character 12%, remorse 5%, personal circumstances including childcare and disadvantage 25%) producing a large overall reduction, rounded to a notional 24 months' imprisonment then imposed home detention as the least restrictive adequate sentence gi…
9 Jun 2022

CROWLEY-LEWIS v R [2022] NZCA 235

Citation

[2022] NZCA 235
Court

Court of Appeal

Section 86C(4) of the Sentencing Act 2002 must be interpreted consistently with s9 NZBORA so that a court is not required to impose a non-parole order if doing so would produce a disproportionately severe sentence; applying that principle here, the mandatory no-parole order was disproportionate given the nature of the first strike and the appellant's mitigating circumstances, so the no-parole order was quashed and the representative rape sentence adjusted to eight years six months with a minimum period of four years three months.
31 May 2022

F (CA691/2021) v R [2022] NZCA 217

Citation

[2022] NZCA 217
Court

Court of Appeal

The Court held that mixed verdicts were not inconsistent where different charges were supported by differing levels and types of evidence; an appellant must show jury confusion or an irrational approach to establish inconsistency; the affidavit about jury timing was irrelevant and not admitted; the sentencing starting point of six years was within the correct USC band two range given aggravating factors and the resulting sentence was not manifestly excessive.
19 Dec 2017

R v AITCHISON [2017] NZHC 3218

Citation

[2017] NZHC 3218
Court

High Court

Each conviction was sentenced at the low end of band three with a starting point of 12 years per offence; having regard to the totality and the comparable seriousness of both offences involving highly vulnerable victims and gross breach of trust an uplift of 2.5 years was justified, producing a concurrent global sentence of 14.5 years, and a minimum period of imprisonment of 50% (7 years 3 months) was imposed under s86 because denial impeded rehabilitation and community protection required it.

New Zealand Case Law

R v MARU [2023] NZHC 790

CROWLEY-LEWIS v R [2022] NZCA 235

F (CA691/2021) v R [2022] NZCA 217

R v AITCHISON [2017] NZHC 3218