R v Henare

Stephen James Henare was convicted on six counts of theft by a person in a special relationship and one count of attempting to pervert the course of justice. The charges related to the misappropriation of approximately $1.1 million from the Parengarenga 3G Trust (P3G Trust) of which Henare and his sister were trustees. Henare initiated or was the authoriser or secondary authoriser of 125 unauthorised payments from the P3G accounts, amounting in total to $1,083,893.30. The offending spanned over 12 months and involved 125 separate transactions. The primary aggravating features of the offending were the extent of loss and harm resulting from the offence, planning and premeditation, abuse of position of trust or authority, scale of the offending, and personal gain. The Court found no mitigating features. The Court adopted an orthodox approach to sentencing, setting a starting point informed by the aggravating and mitigating features of the offending and sentences imposed in similar cases. The Court found no factors personal to Henare that required an adjustment to the six-year sentence. The Court allowed a discount of 10 per cent on account of Henare’s guilty plea. The Court arrived at a final sentence of five years and two months’ imprisonment, to be served with concurrent and cumulative components. The Court did not impose a reparation order. The Court imposed sentences of imprisonment to be served concurrently on the charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and a sentence of 10 months’ imprisonment cumulatively on the charge of attempting to pervert the course of justice, bringing the total period of imprisonment to five years and two months.