R v Cavanagh - [2015] NZHC 2498

ORDER PROHIBITING PUBLICATION OF PARAGRAPH [15] OF THIS JUDGMENT.

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

CRI-2014-004-5509 [2015] NZHC 2498

THE QUEEN

v

MICHAEL JOSEPH CAVANAGH

Hearing: 9 October 2015

Appearances:

R M A McCoubrey for Crown
S J Bonnar QC and C S Fredric for Defendant

Sentence:

9 October 2015

SENTENCE OF KEANE J

Solicitors:
Crown Solicitor, Auckland

THE QUEEN v MICHAEL CAVANAGH [2015] NZHC 2498 [9 October 2015]

[1] Michael Cavanagh you appear for sentence for 11 offences, which in their order of seriousness are these:

(a) supplying the class B controlled drug (in excess of two kilograms of ephedrine), and materials capable of being used to manufacture (iodine and hypophosphorous acid), on 23 April 2014;

(b) money laundering on five occasions between 7 May 2012 - 11 March

2014, to purchase your home and four cars, using drug offending proceeds;

(c) possessing a 9mm Ruger pistol on 26 March 2014 and a .35mm Baby

Browning on 21 May 2014;

(d) fraudulently obtaining a driver’s licence under a false name on 7 July

2011 and making a false statement to obtain a New Zealand passport under a false name on 20 May 2013.

[2] These offences were established, as you have accepted by your plea, during Operation Genoa, an investigation the police commenced in 2011 into the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine in Auckland, which culminated in May 2014. I sentenced your wife, whom you involved in your offending, earlier this week. Two others have gone to trial. One has still to be sentenced.

[3] You pleaded to these offences on 21 August 2015, the week before your trial was to begin. But, as the Crown accepts, you had intimated that plea some time earlier. Once I have sentenced you, the Crown will seek leave to withdraw six other charges, as has been confirmed today.

Fact summary

[4] The fact summary, which you do not dispute, amplifies the offences for which you are for sentence, in date sequence.

[5] On 7 July 2011 you applied for a New Zealand driver’s licence using a false identity giving the false date of birth 21 May 1973. You gave an Oratia address and described your birth place as Katikati. You used that driver’s licence to purchase property, register motor vehicles, open safety deposit boxes and bank accounts in order to conceal cash and assets.

[6] In 2012 – 2014 you money laundered the proceeds of drug offending by making five purchases.

(a) On 3 April 2013 you and your wife purchased your present home for

$535,000, you using your false name and she using a false name also.

(b)On 7 May 2012 you purchased a Holden car valued at $28,000, for a price that has not been established, in the name of your wife’s mother.

(c) On 4 September 2012 you bought a Porsche Boxster car valued at

$32,000 for a price still to be established, first registering it under

your false name and later under the name of…

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 R v Cavanagh

Details

AGLC: R v Cavanagh [2015] NZHC 2498
Case: [2015] NZHC 2498
Decision Date: 9 October 2015

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Michael Joseph Cavanagh was sentenced by the High Court of New Zealand on multiple charges, including the supply of a controlled drug, money laundering, possession of firearms, and obtaining a driver's license and passport under false identities. Cavanagh pleaded guilty to these charges, which stemmed from his involvement in the manufacture and supply of methamphetamine in Auckland. The court had to determine the appropriate starting point for sentencing, the uplift for additional and previous related offending, and the applicable discounts for plea and personal circumstances.

The court determined that Cavanagh's lead offence, the supply of ephedrine, warranted a starting point of seven years imprisonment, placing it in the second band of offending as per the Court of Appeal's guidelines in R v Wallace and Christie. The court also imposed an 18-month uplift for additional offending and a nine-month uplift for previous related offending, resulting in a total sentence of nine years and three months. After applying discounts for plea, personal circumstances, and recall, the effective sentence was reduced to five years and ten months, to be served concurrently with the defendant's existing sentence.

The final orders of the court included the imposition of a minimum term of imprisonment of half the five year, 10 month sentence, and the withdrawal of other charges faced by Cavanagh at the time of his plea.

Orders