R v Horomona

The Court of Appeal of New Zealand was presented with an appeal by Laurence Basil Horomona against his conviction and sentence. Horomona had been convicted by a jury in the District Court at Hamilton on one count of arson and one count of assault on a child under fourteen years, and was sentenced to five years six months imprisonment on the arson charge and one years imprisonment on the assault charge, to be served concurrently. The appellant appealed against both conviction and sentence. The main legal issue before the Court was whether the trial judge had correctly directed the jury on the essential elements of the charge of arson under s 267(1)(a) of the Crimes Act 1961. The Court found that the judge's directions to the jury were misleading and may have led to an unsafe verdict. The Court held that the appellant was placed in jeopardy of being convicted of an offence with which he was not charged, namely attempted arson. The appeal was allowed, the conviction on Count 1 was quashed, and a new trial was ordered. The sentence of twelve months imprisonment on Count 3, the assault charge, was confirmed. Publication of the reasons for judgment in the news media or on the internet or other publicly available database was prohibited until final disposition of the retrial, although the result may be reported. Publication in a law report or law digest was permitted, however.