R v Heenan

[2014] NZHC 553

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND ROTORUA REGISTRY

CRI-2009-063-003966 [2014] NZHC 553

THE QUEEN

v

CHRISTOPHER ALLAN HEENAN

Hearing:	20 March 2014
Counsel:	AJ Gordon and N Tahana for the Crown S Lance and BJ Foote for the Defendant
Judgment:	20 March 2014

SENTENCING NOTES OF ASHER J

Solicitors/Counsel:

Crown Solicitor, Rotorua.

S Lance, Auckland.

O’Sullivan Clemens, Rotorua.

R v HEENAN [2014] NZHC 553 [20 March 2014]

[1]      Mr Heenan, you have been found guilty by a jury of the murder of Raukawa

Newton.  It is now my task to sentence you.

[2]      You and Mr Newton had become friends.  On 11 October 2007 he came to your home.  It was a meeting that commenced at least in friendship.  However, at the end of the evening Mr Newton was dead as a consequence of a stab wound administered by you.

[3]      We  do  not  know  the  exact  sequence  of  events  through  that  evening. However, the Crown put their theory of the case as to what happened based largely on what you had said to AB to the jury, and in my view the jury have accepted that account, as do I.

[4]      Through  the  evening  you  both  became  very  drunk.     At  some  stage Mr Newton turned to the spiritual side of his life and began to invoke the Maori gods.  For some reason this incensed you.   It can only be assumed you fell into a violent rage.  Whatever it was that took over, it prompted you to take hold of a knife and stab Mr Newton.  I consider you did stab him in the way you outlined to AB by holding him and reaching around from his back and stabbing him in a downward movement in the top part of his left chest.  The knife went in at an angle and cut through his aorta causing Mr Newton to die within a very short time.  The wound was a wide one showing notching and in my view you are likely to have held it inside him with all your strength while he struggled against you.

[5]      Because of the terrible nature of the injury Mr Newton suffered he would have lost consciousness within seconds, and he collapsed on the floor.   You then stabbed yourself 11 or 12 times in the stomach having taken off your shirt to make it look as if Mr Newton had attacked you.  You then went to your neighbour knowing that in due course the Police would arrive, as they did.

[6]      You claimed to have little or no memory of events and so the Police and the Crown have had to reconstruct what happened on the basis of the physical evidence and on the basis of what you later said to others.

[7]      There has been an earlier trial where a verdict of guilty was later set aside by the Court of Appeal.  After that earlier verdict you were sentenced by Brewer J on

3 March 2011 to life imprisonment with a 10 year minimum term.   That sentence was effectively quashed when your conviction appeal was allowed.

[8]      For that  sentence  and  this,  there has  been the  benefit  of detailed  victim impact statements.  I do not have a pre-sentence report and one was not obtained for the earlier sentence hearing.  You have been found guilty today and this sentencing has proceeded today. This is an unusual situation.

[9]      However,   both   your   counsel   and   the  Crown   support   the  sentencing proceeding today in this way.  It will thereby bring some immediate closure to those involved, rather than leave the matter adjourned for quite some weeks for yet another court round to be endured by those involved.

[10]     I have agreed to proceed to sentence today, although it is unusual.   I have done so because of the unusual circumstance of there already being the benefit of an earlier sentencing process and because Crown and defence agree that that is the best way forward and agree effectively on the outcome.  The outcome they both support is the same outcome imposed at the last sentence hearing, of a life sentence and a minimum term.

[11]     It is necessary, however, for me to carry out a short independent assessment of the situation.   Before I do so I do need to acknowledge in this Court the great suffering of the victims who have been left very damaged as a consequence of your crime.  I have victim impact statements in no particular order from CJ, CB, MS, DN, and  KN  and AK  jointly.    These  victim  impact  statements  portray  a  picture  of Raukawa Newton as a man greatly loved, greatly respected and hugely missed.  He was 38 years old when he died.  His children are now fatherless.  What comes across more clearly than anything in the victim impact statements is that Raukawa Newton was a man of peace.  I cannot possibly do justice to the feelings of those who have lost him, but I publicly acknowledge their sadness and the extent of their loss.

[12]     In a sentencing of this type there are various sections in the Sentencing Act

2002 which set out what must happen on a murder conviction.  The sentence which I impose upon you is one which I am required to impose as a matter of law.  I make it clear  that  the  sentence  I  impose  is  not  intended  to  compensate  for  Raukawa Newton’s death.  No sentence that I could impose would compensate for his death. The response I make in sentencing is the response that the law requires.

[13]     In your case the law is very clear.   It requires me to impose a sentence of

imprisonment for life.1

Life imprisonment means just that.  Unless the Parole Board

in some future year decides that it is reasonable and safe for you to return to the community then you will stay in prison.  If the Parole Board does decide to release you at some future time you would always, for the rest of your life, be on parole and so any further offending would mean that  you would be recalled to  custody to

continue to serve the sentence of life imprisonment.

[14]     The  law  also  requires  me  to  order  that  you  serve  a  minimum  term  of

imprisonment of at least 10 years.2

In other words I must impose upon you a period

of imprisonment during which you must be held in prison before the Parole Board can make its first assessment of whether you should be released on parole.   The requirements that I must take into account are set out in s 103 of the Sentencing Act. They are to hold the offender accountable for the harm done to the victim and the community, to denounce the conduct of the offender, to deter the offender and other persons from committing the same offence, and to protect the community from the

offender.

[15]     I have taken all these factors into account.  I have also taken into account the earlier  sentence  that  was  imposed  by  Brewer  J,  and  I  take  into  account  the

submission of the Crown as to what the appropriate minimum term should be.

[16]     I set the minimum term of imprisonment that you must serve as 10 years.

1      Sentencing Act 2002, s 102(1).

2      Sentencing Act 2002, s 103(1).

[17]     Mr  Heenan,  for  the  murder  of  Raukawa  Newton,  you  are  sentenced  to imprisonment for life with a minimum term of imprisonment of 10 years.

[18]     You may stand down.

……………………………..

Asher J