Uasi v Police

[2024] NZHC 748

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TĀMAKI MAKAURAU ROHE

CRI-2024-404-36

[2024] NZHC 748

BETWEEN

WILLIAM UASI

Appellant

AND

NEW ZEALAND POLICE

Respondent

Hearing:

9 April 2024

Appearances:

S P Dickson for appellant

M S Chiraagh for respondent

Judgment:

10 April 2024

JUDGMENT OF JOHNSTONE J

This judgment was delivered by me on 10 April 2024 at 12pm

Registrar/Deputy Registrar

Solicitors: MC, Auckland

UASI v POLICE [2024] NZHC 748 [10 April 2024]

[1]    On 10 January 2024, William Uasi was sentenced in the North Shore District Court to serve 40 hours' community work, and to undergo 12 months' intensive supervision, having been  convicted  of  common  assault  in  terms  of  the  Summary Offences Act 1981.1 He now appeals against the community work component of that sentence.

[2]    In the unusual circumstances of this appeal, the police, through counsel of the Auckland Crown Solicitor's office, accept that this Court might consider the community work component makes the sentence manifestly excessive. Indeed, I do take that view.

[3]    The assault was serious. It occurred on 21 August 2022, when Mr Uasi was at the High Care Unit at He Puna, North Shore Hospital. A registered nurse entered the interview room in which Mr Uasi was seated with family members. Observing that Mr Uasi was irritable, the nurse advised that Mr Uasi needed medication. The nurse approached Mr Uasi holding pills in a small paper cup. Mr Uasi got up suddenly and punched the nurse's face, knocking him back such that his head hit the wall behind before he collapsed to the floor. The nurse suffered laceration of his lips.

[4]However, it does not appear it was made clear to the sentencing Judge that:

(a)Mr Uasi was not immediately charged with the above assault. He remained in the community prior to being charged, but not for long. By 13 September 2022 he had been charged with offences occurring in September 2022 — another assault, and an assault with intent to injure in terms of the Crimes Act 19612 — and on that day he was remanded in custody.

(b)Mr Uasi then remained in custody until, on 25 August 2023, he was sentenced for the latter assaults to an overall term of 14 months'

1      Summary Offences Act 1981, s 9. Maximum penalty six months’ imprisonment or $4,000 fine.

2      Crimes Act 1961, s 193. Maximum penalty three years’ imprisonment.

imprisonment.    When they were imposed on 25 August 2023, the release date of those sentences had already passed.3

(c)In the meantime, by 25 October 2022, Mr Uasi had been charged with the assault at North Shore Hospital and remanded in custody pending determination of that charge. He was therefore held in custody on remand in respect of the  hospital  assault  until  he  was  bailed  on  25 August 2023, having been sentenced for the assaults as described at [4(b)] above.

(d)Accordingly, had Mr Uasi on 10 January 2024 been sentenced for the hospital assault to the maximum penalty of six months' imprisonment, he would have qualified for immediate release, he being deemed under the Parole Act 2002 to have been serving that sentence during his time in pre-sentence detention.4

[5]    As the sentencing Judge observed, Mr Uasi is of poor mental health. He has a diagnosis of schizophrenia, and has been the subject of coercive treatment. His criminal history is of concern. It includes a range of generally low-level offending, but also offending repeatedly involving violence. In light of all the circumstances relating to Mr Uasi's offending and to his personal position, a sentence involving intensive supervision was clearly desirable.

[6]    However, the addition of a sentence of community work involved the imposition of a punitive response exceeding that which would have flowed had the Judge imposed not merely the four months' imprisonment which she identified as an appropriate starting point, but the maximum penalty of six months’ imprisonment. Further, it may be doubted whether Mr Uasi's mental health is such that he is capable of undertaking community work without serious risk of non-compliance and further outcomes which do little if anything to meet the sentencing purposes of promoting his sense of accountability and assisting in his rehabilitation.

3      The release date of a short-term sentence is the date on which the offender has served half of it: Parole Act 2002, s 86(1).

4      Parole Act, s 90(1).

[7]    For those reasons, the community work component of Mr Uasi's sentence should not have been imposed. His appeal is allowed. His sentence is amended so that it requires him only to undergo 12 month's intensive supervision.

Johnstone J