Wade v Police - [2014] NZHC 86

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND ROTORUA REGISTRY

CRI-2013-063-002767 [2014] NZHC 86

BETWEEN TAMA JUNIOR WADE Appellant

ANDNEW ZEALAND POLICE Respondent

Hearing: 7 February 2014

Appearances: Appellant in person
A D Hill for Respondent

Judgment: 7 February 2014

(ORAL) JUDGMENT OF LANG J [on appeal against sentence]

TAMA JUNIOR WADE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2014] NZHC 86 [7 February 2014]

[1] Mr Wade pleaded guilty in the District Court to charges of driving whilst disqualified, attempting to take a motor vehicle and assaulting a police officer. On
22 October 2013, Judge Weir sentenced Mr Wade to an effective sentence of

15 months imprisonment. He now appeals to this Court against the sentence on the basis that the Judge erred in principle in imposing the sentence, and this resulted in an end sentence that was manifestly excessive.

The facts

[2] The charges arose as a result of two incidents. The first involved Mr Wade being found driving a motor vehicle on 26 July 2013 whilst he was disqualified from driving.

[3] The remaining charges arose out of incident that occurred in the early hours of 18 August 2013. On that occasion, Mr Wade went to a residential property in a drunken state. He then entered a locked motor vehicle and tampered with the ignition. An occupant of the address woke up and managed to overcome Mr Wade before he could drive away in the vehicle. The police were called and Mr Wade told them that he had been left stranded in Rotorua and needed to travel to Auckland. He was abusive towards medical staff when he was taken to the hospital so that injuries he sustained during the struggle with the occupant of the address could be treated. A police officer then directed him to return to bed, but Mr Wade refused and tried to walk to the door. The officer then restrained Mr Wade, and attempted to take him back to this bed. His response was to turn towards the officer and spit at him, hitting him squarely in the face.

The sentence

[4] The Judge viewed the charges arising out of the incident on 18 August 2013 as being the most serious. He noted that Mr Wade has a lengthy list of previous convictions for offending involving dishonesty. He also has other convictions for drugs.

[5] The Judge took a starting point of ten months imprisonment on the lead charge of attempting to unlawfully take the motor vehicle. He then applied a six

month uplift to reflect Mr Wade’s previous convictions. He then reduced the end

sentence of 16 months imprisonment by 25 per cent to reflect Mr Wade’s guilty plea.

[6] The Judge imposed a cumulative sentence of two months imprisonment in respect of the assault charge, and a further cumulative sentence of one month’s imprisonment on the charge of driving whilst disqualified.

The appeal

[7] Mr Wade raises a number of issues about the sentencing process. First, he points out that the charging document in relation…

Grounds of appeal

[14] The appellant contends that the primary judge erred in finding that the respondent had discharged the onus of establishing the matters required under the relevant provision.

[15] It was submitted that his Honour failed to give adequate weight to the evidence of the second witness, and that the findings of fact were not reasonably open on the material before the Court.

[16] The respondent, for its part, submits that no error is disclosed, and that the conclusions reached were well within the range of outcomes available to the primary judge.

Consideration

[17] It is convenient to deal first with the question of construction, as the resolution of that issue informs the remaining grounds advanced by the appellant.

[18] For the reasons that follow, we are of the view that the appeal should be allowed in part and the matter remitted for further determination.

Continue reading Wade v Police

Details

AGLC: Wade v Police [2014] NZHC 86
Case: [2014] NZHC 86
Decision Date: 7 February 2014

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In the matter of Wade v Police, the High Court of New Zealand reviewed an appeal by Tama Junior Wade against his sentence imposed by the District Court. Wade had pleaded guilty to charges of driving while disqualified, attempting to take a motor vehicle, and assaulting a police officer. The District Court Judge, Weir, had sentenced Wade to an effective term of 15 months imprisonment. The appeal was against the sentence on the grounds that the Judge had erred in principle, resulting in a sentence that was manifestly excessive.

The legal issues that the High Court needed to decide included whether the District Court Judge had made an error in assessing the maximum penalty for the charge of attempting to unlawfully take a motor vehicle, and if the Judge’s alteration of his notes regarding the sentence imposed constituted a significant error. Additionally, the court considered whether the administrative error in Wade's criminal history records should impact the sentence.

The High Court found that the error in the maximum penalty noted on the charge sheet, which stated seven years instead of the correct two years, may have influenced the starting point of the sentence. However, the court decided to reduce the starting point to eight months, with an uplift of 50% for Wade's previous convictions, followed by a reduction of three months for his guilty plea. This resulted in a sentence of nine months for the charge of attempting to unlawfully take a motor vehicle. The court also directed that Wade’s criminal history should be amended to reflect the correct charge. The cumulative sentences for the other charges remained unchanged.

The appeal was allowed, and the sentence on the charge of attempting to unlawfully take a motor vehicle was reduced to nine months imprisonment. Consequently, Wade's total effective sentence was reduced to 12 months imprisonment.

Orders