C v Police HC Wellington CRI 2008-485-94

[2008] NZHC 1887

This case has been anonymized

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

CRI 2008-485-94

C

Applicant

v

NEW ZEALAND POLICE

Respondent

Counsel:         No Appearance for Applicant

J Murdoch for Respondent

Judgment:      2 December 2008

JUDGMENT OF SIMON FRANCE J

This judgment was delivered by Justice Simon France on 2 December 2008 pursuant to r540(4) of the High Court Rules 1985.

C V NEW ZEALAND POLICE HC WN CRI 2008-485-94 2 December 2008

Introduction

[1]      Mr C   was convicted of failing to answer Police bail.  Other charges heard at the same time were dismissed.

[2]      Mr C   appealed his conviction to the High Court.   The appeal was dismissed by me in a Judgment dated 2 October 2008.   I held that Mr C   admitted that he did not turn up for bail, and that the reasons he gave for not doing so did not amount in law to a defence.  Accordingly I dismissed the appeal.

[3]      Mr C   now seeks leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal.   He filed written submissions but did not appear.  I see no need to delay matters to ascertain why, given the nature of the issue and the fact of written submissions.

[4]      The ground of appeal is that in my Judgment I did not address the merits of the  complaints  that  underlay  Mr C  ’s  decision  not  to  report  as  his  bail required.

[5]      It is true that I did not comment on these matters.   I referred to them, but thought it clear in the last paragraph of my Judgment that the validity of the claims was irrelevant to whether Mr C   should comply with his conditions of bail. No question of law can arise from my Judgment and accordingly the application for

leave to appeal to the Court of Appeal is dismissed.

Simon France J

Solicitors:

B E C  , c/- Downtown Community Ministry, PO Box 6133, Wellington

J Murdoch, Luke, Cunningham & Clere, PO Box 10 357, Wellington, email: [email protected]