R v King

Zion Hiona King applied for leave to appeal a ruling by Potter J, who held that certain exculpatory statements made by King to Mere Wikaire were inadmissible at his trial for murder. The trial was scheduled to commence on 8 February 2010. King was charged with the murder of his neighbour, whose body was discovered on 21 January 2008. The Crown case relied heavily on statements King allegedly made before he could have innocently learnt of his neighbour’s death. On 11 March 2008, Wikaire telephoned King at the police's request, and the conversation was recorded. During the call, King made the exculpatory statements in question. The Crown decided not to call this evidence.

The court considered two main legal issues: (a) the direct admissibility of King's remarks and (b) King's entitlement to use the transcript of the call to impeach the credibility of Wikaire and the police. The court held that s 21 of the Evidence Act 2006 was the primary relevant provision and that the exclusion of inadmissible evidence did not infringe s 25 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990. The court found that the admissibility of King's statement depended on who tendered the statement, with the prosecution able to offer it but not the defence. The court also noted that trial judges had powers to control the criminal trial process, which could include requiring a prosecutor to lead particular evidence. However, the jurisdiction of the court under s 379A did not provide for challenges to rulings under s 368 or as to whether s 25 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act required a prosecutor to lead certain evidence.

Regarding the second issue, the court held that the extent to which defence counsel could cross-examine Wikaire and the police officers on the phone call for the purpose of impugning their credibility was not explored before Potter J. The court granted the extension of time sought but dismissed the application for leave to appeal.

The court issued an order prohibiting the publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of the trial. Publication in law reports or law digests was permitted.