Supreme Court case information
Listed below are the substantive Supreme Court cases for the year along with appeals still to be determined or cases awaiting hearing.
Information giving an overview of the case is included along with media releases and links to judgments being appealed when available.
All 2024 - 2014 Supreme Court cases dismissed or deemed to be dismissed where a notice of abandonment was received can be found here.
Transcripts for cases heard before the Supreme Court are included provided they are not suppressed. Transcripts from pre-trial hearings are not published until the final disposition of trial. These are unedited transcripts and they are not a formal record of the Court’s proceedings. The Ministry of Justice does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any material and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use.
24 June 2024
Case information summary 2024 (as at 21 June 2024) – Cases where leave granted (121 KB)
Case information summary 2024 (as at 21 June 2024) – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 125 KB)
All years
Case name
Shahram Aram v The Queen
Case number
SC 60/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – convicted of five drug offences –whether substantial miscarriage of justice may have occurred – fresh evidence of corruption, conspiracy and perjury – seeking order quashing conviction and sentence or, alternatively, order for retrial. CA 407/06 2 August 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
4 December 2007
4 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ARAM V R SC 60/2007 [4 December 2007] (PDF, 15 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Christopher Cliff Morris v The Queen
Case number
SC 61/2007
Summary
Criminal appeal – Crimes Act 1961, s 229A – using a tax document with intent to defraud – whether, under the Tax Administration Act 1994, employees of the Inland Revenue Department can give evidence in the prosecution – whether ss 81(1) and 81(3) of that Act preclude employees of the Inland Revenue Department giving evidence unless either the prosecution is initiated by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for offences under the Inland Revenue Acts or the evidence falls within one of the exceptions listed in s 81(4) – whether the Court of Appeal was correct to direct a new trial under s 382 of the Crimes Act 1961 – application for leave to appeal out of time.CA 120/04 4 November 2004
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 30 October 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MORRIS v R SC 61/2007 [30 October 2007] (PDF, 18 KB)
Case name
Jule Patrick Burns v The Queen
Case number
SC 65/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction for murder – whether verdict should be set aside on the ground that it is unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence – whether DNA evidence was properly admitted at trial.CA 152/2006 [2007] NZCA 308 23 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BURNS v R SC 65/2007 [5 March 2008] (PDF, 16 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Ian Kenneth McMillan v The Queen
Case number
SC 70/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against sentence – applicant sentenced to preventive detention in 1995 – unsuccessful appeal to Court of Appeal in 1995 – sought rehearing of appeal in 2005 – Court of Appeal dismissed appeal on rehearing – whether Court of Appeal erred in not considering whether New Zealand regime of preventive detention is in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and/or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – whether Court of Appeal erred in not granting a declaration (R v Hansen (2007) 23 CRNZ 104) – jurisdiction in criminal case to grant declaration of inconsistency with NZBORA and/or ICCPR – whether preventive detention breaches ss 9, 22, 23 and 25 of NZBORA and/or arts 7, 9, 10, 14 and 15 of ICCPR – whether treatment of applicant by New Zealand Courts has breached his rights under ss 25(a), 24(a), 19, and/or 22 of NZBORA – whether applicant was lawfully committed to the High Court for sentence – whether Court of Appeal erred in not substituting a finite sentence.[2007] NZCA 394 CA 110/05 7 September 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 11 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Not publicly available
Judgment appealed from
Case name
W v The Queen
Case number
SC 74/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against convictions for historical sexual offending – whether the admission of evidence in rebuttal to a recent complaint allegation, which evidence the Court of Appeal held to be inadmissible, created a miscarriage of justice. [2007] NZCA 408 CA 164/07 11 September 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed .
5 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Wayne Darren McGregor v The Queen
Case number
SC 76/2007
Summary
Criminal appeal – Sentencing Act 2002 – sentencing bands for grievous bodily harm – whether sentence imposed is manifestly excessive and wrong in principle – whether R v Taueki [2005] 3 NZLR 372 is correctly decided – in particular, whether it is correct to focus on the presence of identified aggravating features – whether Taueki has improperly led to a rise in sentencing levels over the bottom half of the range of sentences imposed for grievous bodily harm.[2007] NZCA 435 CA 320/07 10 October 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 28 February 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MCGREGOR v R SC 76/2007 [28 February 2008] (PDF, 15 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Carey Dean Turner v The Queen
Case number
SC 77/2007
Summary
Criminal Appeal – sexual violation – whether evidence given by the complainant was incorrectly admitted – whether the evidence was recent complaint evidence – whether the trial Judge should have given a direction to the jury about recent complaint evidence – whether the trial judge erred by giving incorrect directions to the jury about the status of a video statement made out of Court by the accused - whether this direction by the trial judge undermined the tripartite direction given about the way the jury ought to consider evidence given by the accused at trial – whether the Court of Appeal erred by dismissing the appellants appeal to that Court.[2007] NZCA 437 CA 181/07 1 October 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TURNER v R SC 77/2007 [5 March 2008] (PDF, 22 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
W v The Queen
Case number
SC 78/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction – sexual offending against daughter – alleged errors in interventions, directions and summing-up by trial Judge, circumstances of recall of expert witness by Crown after closing addresses, and conduct of defence counsel – whether various alleged trial errors, individually or collectively, may have given rise to a substantial miscarriage of justice.[2007] NZCA 34 CA 222/06 1 March 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 15 April 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
W V R SC 78/2007 [15 April 2008] (PDF, 18 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Terrence Austin McFarland v The Queen
Case number
SC 79/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction for maiming with intent to cause grievous bodily harm – applicant was unrepresented at trial – amicus curiae appointed without prior notice to the applicant, in his absence, and without his consent – whether the amicus made a substantial error in failing to advise the applicant against calling evidence from the former co-accused – whether the trial Judge erred by misdirecting the jury on the standard of proof and failing to provide directions on the cross-examination and the submissions made to the jury by crown counsel.[2007] NZCA 449 CA 385/06 18 October 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MCFARLAND v R SC 79/2007 [5 March 2008] (PDF, 19 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Rebecca Katszi Li v The Queen
Case number
SC 80/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – applicant convicted on multiple counts of forgery under s 256(1) of the Crimes Act 1961 – seeking order quashing convictions under s 256(1) and substituting new convictions under s 256(2) – seeking order quashing sentence and imposing a sentence commensurate with convictions under s 256(2) – whether Court of Appeal erred in its interpretation of s 256 of the Crimes Act.[2007] NZCA 403 CA 449/06 10 September 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
18 March 2008
____________________
The appeal is dismissed.
19 December 2008
18 March 2008
____________________
The appeal is dismissed.
19 December 2008
Media Releases
- sc 80 2007 rebecca katszi li v rpress release (PDF, 87 KB)
Leave judgment - leave granted
LI v R SC 80/2007 [18 March 2008] (PDF, 12 KB)
Substantive judgment
LI v R SC 80/2007 [19 December 2008] (PDF, 108 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Substantive judgment / Media release
Transcript
Page 69 of 79