R v Trotter Ca253/03

In the Court of Appeal of New Zealand, the appellant, Donald Lyall Trotter, appealed against his conviction and sentence for multiple counts of indecent assault involving four complainants under the age of 12. The key legal issue was whether the decision of the appellant not to give evidence resulted in a miscarriage of justice. The Court held that the decision was a matter of trial strategy and did not amount to a radical error or miscarriage of justice. The Court also considered the appeal against the sentence of preventive detention, finding that the escalation in the seriousness of the offending and the unchanged risk of reoffending justified the sentence. The Court dismissed both the appeal against conviction and the appeal against sentence. The Court did, however, grant an extension of time for filing the appeal, as the appellant's appeal period had expired, but the Crown had not opposed the appeal on its merits. The final orders were that the appeals against conviction and sentence were dismissed, and leave to appeal out of time was granted.