R v B HC Auckland CRI 2006-004-16737

[2008] NZHC 2426

This case has been anonymized

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

CRI 2006-004-016737

THE QUEEN

v

B

Hearing:         29 July 2008

Appearances: K Glubb for the Crown

S Bonnar for Ms B 

Judgment:      29 July 2008

SENTENCE OF WOODHOUSE J

Solicitors:

Mr K Glubb, Meredith Connell, Office of the Crown Solicitor, Auckland

Mr S Bonnar, Barrister, Auckland

R V B HC AK CRI 2006-004-016737  29 July 2008

[1]      You need not stand Ms B   until I come to formally impose a sentence.  I wish to make quite clear at the beginning that what I intend to do is impose a sentence of community work.  I need to record, firstly – and I need to do this for the record – that at the commencement of the trial you pleaded guilty to the charge of theft and possession of methamphetamine and you have, of course, been found not guilty on the far more serious charge you faced, and that is a matter that is now completely irrelevant to the sentence that I have to impose.

[2]      I also record that the Crown, represented by Mr Glubb, agreed with the submission Mr Bonnar has made for you, that I should sentence you now and not defer that, and in particular not seek a pre-sentence report or anything else.  Because of the knowledge that I now have from the trial about your circumstances at the time and the real efforts that it is clear you have made since then, I am willing to deal with the sentence now.

[3]      The far more serious of the two charges is theft, and it is a calculated theft, a pre-meditated theft of a substantial sum of money.  That has to be recognised in the sentence, but against that I do recognise what I have just mentioned and that is the commendable efforts that you have plainly made in the 18 months, 20 months or so since you were arrested to deal with the problems that you had got into and what, as Mr Bonnar said, could have been a downward spiral.  You are entitled to as much encouragement as I can give you to carry on with that.

[4]      But there does need to be a recognition of the fact that you committed a serious crime.

[5]      Mr Glubb, having had an opportunity to consider, as far as one can, what might be an appropriate penalty accepts that a sentence of community work at, what he put at the lower end of the scale, is appropriate.  And Mr Bonnar has not argued to the contrary.

[6]      As  I indicated in my discussion with Mr Bonnar,  I was  considering the possibility of a period of community work of 100 hour, and no more than that.  In

some respects it is not a lengthy period.   But what I want to do is really seek to encourage you, as far as I can.

[7]      In  those  circumstances,  in  respect  of  the offence of  theft,  I will  impose community work of 70 hours.

[8]      On the offence of possession of methamphetamine you are convicted and discharged.

[9]      Thank you, and I do wish you the best.  Make the most of it.

Peter Woodhouse J