Clarke v Police

Neil Martin Clarke, the applicant, sought leave to pursue three appeals against his conviction and sentence in the Wellington District Court. The first appeal related to the conviction and sentence for assaulting two police officers. The second and third appeals related to the sentence for benefit fraud. The Court of Appeal declined the applications for leave to appeal.

The court was required to determine whether Mr Clarke's appeals involved a matter of general or public importance or whether there was a risk of a miscarriage of justice if the appeals were not heard. The court found that neither of these criteria were met.

In the first appeal, the court found that Mr Clarke's arguments did not differ significantly from the arguments made in the previous appeal, and that the circumstances of the assault on Constable Pitchford were well-settled. In the second appeal, the court found that the sentence imposed on Mr Clarke was within the available range and did not involve any significant points of law. In the third appeal, the court found that Mr Clarke's appeal was not grounded in any decision of the District Court, and that his guilty plea had overtaken the circumstances in which the appeal could apply.

The applications for leave to appeal are declined.