Greer v The Prison Manager of Rimutaka Prison

[2008] NZCA 331

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND

CA498/2008
[2008] NZCA 331

BETWEENALAN IVO GREER

Appellant

ANDTHE PRISON MANAGER OF RIMUTAKA PRISON

Respondent

Hearing:26 August 2008

Court:William Young  P, Hammond and Ellen France JJ

Counsel:Appellant in Person

C C Inglis and C A Griffin for Respondent

Judgment:26 August 2008 

ORAL JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

A        The appeal is dismissed.

B        The appellant is to pay the respondent costs of $500.

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REASONS OF THE COURT

(Given by William Young P)

Introduction

[1]       This is an appeal against a judgment of Gendall J dismissing an application for habeas corpus:  HC WN CIV-2008-485-1554 24 July 2008.

[2]       The appellant is currently serving a sentence of seven years imprisonment imposed upon him on 14 July 2004.  A subsequent appeal to this Court was dismissed as was a later application for leave to appeal to the Supreme Court.

[3]       The appellant’s primary complaints about what is happening to him are set out at [11] of the judgment under appeal.  They plainly do not relate to the legality of his imprisonment; rather they address his treatment by Corrections staff.  His primary focus in argument before us was on his lack of access to computer facilities and law books.  All of this is subject to judicial review proceedings which are presently scheduled, he told us, to be the subject of a judicial telephone conference on 1 September.

[4]       As Gendall J correctly held (at [14]-[15]) the appellant’s complaints, if justified, do not impeach the validity of his detention.  Further, as carefully explained, these proceedings are repetitious in that substantially similar arguments have been the subject of many earlier and unsuccessful applications (see [20]).  In short, this appeal is devoid of merit.

[5]       The appeal is dismissed. 

[6]       We direct that the appellant pay the respondent costs of $500, an order which we see as justified in the particular circumstances of this case given what was said by this Court in Manuel v Superintendent, Hawkes Bay Regional Prison [2006] 2 NZLR 63 at [35].

Solicitors:
Crown Law Office, Wellington