Grace v Police - [2014] NZHC 3045

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WHANGAREI REGISTRY

CRI-2014-488-000042 [2014] NZHC 3045

BETWEEN
WILLIAM ADAM GRACE

Appellant

AND

NEW ZEALAND POLICE Respondent

Hearing: 2 December 2014

Appearances:

TeK W H Puriri for Appellant
M A Jarman-Taylor for Respondent

Judgment:

2 December 2014

ORAL JUDGMENT OF VENNING J

Solicitors: Crown Solicitor, Whangarei
Copy to: TeK W Puriri, Whangarei

GRACE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2014] NZHC 3045 [2 December 2014]

[1] William Adam Grace pleaded guilty to charges of injuring with intent to injure, breaching a community detention sentence, breaching supervision order and breach of a protection order.

[2] On 18 September 2014 Judge Murray Hunt in the District Court at Kaitaia sentenced Mr Grace to 27 months’ imprisonment. Mr Grace appeals against the sentence.

[3] I take the background facts from the Judge’s summary. At about 7.40 in the evening on 26 June this year Mr Grace came home intoxicated. The victim, with her four young children, was at home. Mr Grace said to her, “I feel like giving someone a hiding, do you want it to be you?” Mr Grace then spoke to the victim in derogatory terms. Mr Grace then went away to cook some food. The victim remained sitting watching television with her back to him. Mr Grace continued with the abuse and became annoyed at the fact the victim was ignoring him. Without warning he backhanded her to the right side of her forehead causing her to cry and to go into another room where she called the police.

[4] The victim barricaded herself in the room. Mr Grace forced the door open and managed to get his body halfway through the door. He hit the victim on the top of her head with his hand. She screamed, placed her arms over her head to try and protect herself and then Mr Grace bent over and bit her forearm hard for about four seconds. She thought Mr Grace was going to tear the skin from her arm with his teeth. She screamed out in pain. Mr Grace only stopped because the children in the house began screaming too. He then continued to threaten her, made her flinch and drop to the ground in fear.

[5] The victim sustained injuries including a bite mark with teeth lacerations, swelling and bruising to her forearm and a tender and slightly swollen right forehead.

[6] At the time there was a protection order in force, it having been granted on 26

March 2014. In addition, on 12 March 2014 Mr Grace had been convicted on a charge of male assaults female and sentenced to supervision for one year and to

community detention for five months. He breached the terms of both his community detention and supervision.

District Court decision

[7] The Judge took as the lead offence the injuring with intent to injure. Taking account of the fact the assault occurred while a protection order was in force he fixed a starting point of two years and then uplifted that…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Grace v Police

Details

AGLC: Grace v Police [2014] NZHC 3045
Case: [2014] NZHC 3045
Decision Date: 2 December 2014

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the High Court of New Zealand, William Adam Grace, the appellant, has lodged an appeal against the sentence handed down by Judge Murray Hunt in the District Court at Kaitaia. The appeal pertains to the 27-month imprisonment sentence imposed on Mr Grace for several offences, including injuring with intent to injure, breaching a community detention sentence, breaching a supervision order, and breach of a protection order. Mr Grace pleaded guilty to these charges and was sentenced by Judge Murray Hunt on 18 September 2014. The central issue in this appeal was whether the uplift of 12 months added to the starting point of two years for the injuring with intent to injure offence was excessive, resulting in a manifestly excessive sentence.

The court considered the arguments presented by Mr Grace's counsel, TeK W Puriri, who contended that the uplift of 12 months was manifestly excessive and should have been no more than six months. The court also took into account the recent decision of Moore J in Ransfield v Police, where the sentence was reduced from 27½ months to 20 months' imprisonment for offending that was considered less serious than the present case. However, the court found that an uplift was warranted for several reasons, including the totality of the offending, the fact that the offence occurred while Mr Grace was subject to a sentence, and his previous convictions for relevant similar offending. The court was not persuaded that the uplift of 12 months was not available to the Judge in this case.

The court dismissed the appeal, stating that the Judge was entitled to reject the suggestion of remorse as not genuine and that any additional discount or reduction in the sentence for remorse must be for genuine remorse, as clarified by the Supreme Court in Hessell v R. Consequently, the appeal was dismissed, and the original sentence of 27 months' imprisonment remained in place.

Orders