R v Puna CA262/06

In the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the case of R v Puna CA262/06 involved the appellant, Mr Tracey Andrew Koro Puna, who was convicted of sexual violation by digital penetration of a young girl and sentenced to a term of imprisonment of two years. The appeal was lodged beyond the permitted time, and the appellant sought leave to appeal out of time. The grounds of appeal were that the appellant was not given adequate opportunity or advice from his trial counsel regarding the giving of evidence at trial and that there was insufficient opportunity for the events to have occurred as the complainant claimed. The appellant contended that these grounds, when considered cumulatively, established that a miscarriage of justice occurred. The Court received affidavits from the appellant, his trial counsel, and a private investigator to support the appeal. The Court found that while the trial counsel should have given the appellant the choice of giving evidence, the error did not affect the conduct of the trial. The Court was not satisfied that the trial counsel's failure to advise the appellant that he had a choice to give evidence led to a real risk of a miscarriage in the present case. Therefore, the appeal was dismissed.

Final Orders: The Court extended the time for the filing of the notice of appeal to 28 July 2006. The Court agreed to receive the affidavits of the appellant and his trial counsel, but not that of Mr Abraham. The Court dismissed the appeal.