Heta v The King - [2025] NZCA 425

IN THE COURT OF APPEAL OF NEW ZEALAND

I TE KŌTI PĪRA O AOTEAROA

CA134/2025

[2025] NZCA 425

BETWEEN RAYMOND HETA
Appellant
AND THE KING
Respondent

Hearing:	30 July 2025
Court:	French P, Jagose and Gault JJ
Counsel:	G A Walsh and M J James for Appellant
A L McConachy and S-A A Stratford for Respondent
Judgment:	25 August 2025 at 10.30 am

JUDGMENT OF THE COURT

The appeal is dismissed.

____________________________________________________________________

REASONS OF THE COURT

(Given by Jagose J)

Raymond Heta appeals against his sentence of seven years and three months’

imprisonment imposed by Judge G C Hollister-Jones in the District Court at Rotorua

on 28 February 2025.[1] Mr Heta was sentenced following his guilty pleas to charges of aggravated robbery,[2] and unlawfully taking a vehicle,[3] both entered on conclusion

of the victim’s evidence in chief at trial.

Background

[1] R v Heta [2025] NZDC 4455 [judgment under appeal].

[2] Crimes Act 1961, s 235(b).

[3] Section 226(1)(a).

Mr Heta was 38 years old at the time of the offending. He has an extensive

and relatively persistent criminal history from the age of 14 years—featuring violence,

dishonesty, road transport and non-compliance offending—for which he received

multiple imprisonment sentences.

In the afternoon of Saturday, 28 May 2022, a group of five men including

Mr Heta, all disguised and some wearing gang patches, assaulted the victim at his

Rotorua address. After being told the person they sought at the address was in prison,

Mr Heta asked “well what have you got?”. They punched and kicked the victim and,

on the victim’s attempt to fend them off and flee, stabbed him to the top of his head

and in his back, causing him to fall to the ground with a T10 spinal cord injury,

rendering him permanently paraplegic with lifelong detrimental consequences. The

group took the victim’s bag, containing his wallet and cellphone. Mr Heta later was

seen driving a vehicle the group also took from the address.

A co-offender, the other members of the group not being identified, was

sentenced following his guilty plea to five years’ imprisonment. The Judge had

adopted a starting point of eight years’ imprisonment and applied guilty plea and

causatively contributory background discounts of 25 and 15 per cent, respectively.[4]

Judgment under appeal

[4] R v Herbert [2023] NZDC 8812 at [51]–[52].

The Judge assessed the combination of aggravating factors justified an

eight-year starting point for Mr Heta’s aggravated robbery offending, both in terms of

this Court’s guideline judgment in R v Mako,[5] and for parity with that adopted in

sentencing of the co-offender.[6] The Judge reduced that starting point by three months to reflect the need for totality given Mr Heta’s nine-month period of imprisonment for

other offending.[7] The Judge also applied a six-month uplift for Mr Heta’s criminal

history and a further two-month uplift for his offending on bail.[8]

[5] R v Mako [2000] 2 NZLR 170 (CA) at [58].

[6] Judgment under appeal, above n 1, at [11].

[7] At [12].

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 Heta v The King

Details

AGLC: Heta v The King [2025] NZCA 425
Case: [2025] NZCA 425
Decision Date: 25 August 2025 at 10.30 am

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Raymond Heta appealed against his sentence of seven years and three months' imprisonment imposed by Judge G C Hollister-Jones in the District Court at Rotorua. Mr Heta was sentenced following his guilty pleas to charges of aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a vehicle. The Court of Appeal had to determine whether the sentence imposed by the District Court was manifestly excessive. The central issue was whether the District Court had adequately considered Mr Heta's background in mitigating his sentence.

The Court of Appeal held that while Mr Heta's background indicated reduced agency and provided a rational explanation for his initial participation in group offending, it did not explain his continued participation in violent offending into his middle years. The Court noted that given Mr Heta's relatively continuous violent offending, other sentencing purposes such as holding him accountable for the harm he had done and protecting the community must take precedence. The Court found that the District Court had appropriately balanced the mitigating factors of Mr Heta's background against the seriousness of his offending and the need to protect the community. Consequently, the sentence imposed was not manifestly excessive.

The Court of Appeal dismissed Mr Heta's appeal, thereby affirming the original sentence imposed by the District Court.

Orders