Wanakore v Police - [2025] NZHC 1268

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND NEW PLYMOUTH REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA NGĀMOTU ROHE

CRI-2025-443-000001 CRI-2025-443-000002 [2025] NZHC 1268

BETWEEN WILLIAM HERANGI WANAKORE
Appellant

AND NEW ZEALAND POLICE
Respondent

Hearing: 1 May 2025

Appearances: J C Hannam for Appellant (via AVL)
J M Woodcock for Respondent (via AVL)

Judgment:                21 May 2025
Reissued:                 10 July 2025 Effective date
of Judgment:            21 May 2025

JUDGMENT OF PRESTON J

This judgment was delivered by me on 21 May 2025 at 3.30 pm, pursuant to r 11.5 of the High Court Rules.

Registrar/Deputy Registrar
Date……………

WANAKORE v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2025] NZHC 1268 [21 May 2025]

Introduction

[1] Mr Wanakore appeals the sentence imposed in the New Plymouth District Court of two years and three months’ imprisonment on a raft of charges, including driving while disqualified, male assaults female and breaches of court orders/sentences.1

[2] The sentencing required Mr Wanakore to be re-sentenced on two sets of charges because he had breached the sentences originally imposed, and sentenced also on fresh charges.

[3]Mr Wanakore appeals.

[4] He says the Judge wrongly and disproportionately increased one component of the re-sentencing, an original term of community detention, by uplifting it to 27 months’ imprisonment. This has led to an end sentence which overstated the seriousness of the offending overall and is manifestly excessive.

Background: previous offending and sentences imposed

[5] It is helpful to set out the sequence of offending, sentences originally imposed and fresh charges which were before the Judge.

Charge 1: breach of supervision

[6]The first charge for re-sentencing was a charge of breaching supervision.

[7] The offending giving rise to the original sentence of supervision involved disqualified driving (3rd or subsequent). On 4 August 2016, Mr Wanakore was disqualified indefinitely from driving. On 19 October 2021 he drove while disqualified, his sixth conviction of this kind.

1 Police v Wanakore [2024] NZDC 29304.

[8] Mr Wanakore was sentenced to nine months’ supervision and 150 hours community work for that driving offence. He was therefore required to report weekly to a probation officer as a condition of supervision. On 1 February 2023, Mr Wanakore failed to report and made no contact to explain his absence, giving rise to a charge of breach of supervision.

[9] On 30 October 2023, Mr Wanakore was sentenced to 12 months’ supervision on the breach of supervision charge. But he stopped reporting to his probation officer on 29 February 2024. As a result, Corrections applied to cancel and substitute this sentence.

Charges 2, 3 and 4: sentence of community detention

[10] Mr Wanakore was also re-sentenced on charges 2, 3 and 4 involving driving while disqualified (3rd and subsequent)2 (x 2) and a charge of male assaults female.3

[11] The background to that offending is that, being a disqualified driver, on 26 December 2022 Mr Wanakore drove a motorcycle at one time reaching a maximum speed of 112 km in a 100 km per hour zone. On 12 June 2023, Mr Wanakore drove a…

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 Wanakore v Police

Details

AGLC: Wanakore v Police [2025] NZHC 1268
Case: [2025] NZHC 1268
Decision Date: 21 May 2025

CaseChat Overview and Summary

Wanakore v Police [2025] NZHC 1268 involved an appeal against a sentence imposed on Mr Wanakore by the New Plymouth District Court. Mr Wanakore had been re-sentenced on charges of driving while disqualified and male assaults female, and sentenced on fresh charges of breaching a protection order and assaulting a person in a family relationship. The appeal focused on the imposition of 27 months’ imprisonment in substitution of an original sentence of six months’ community detention, arguing the sentence was excessive and disproportionate. The court agreed, finding the substituted sentence bore no proportionate relationship to the original sentence and there was no adjustment for totality. The appeal was allowed and the sentence was substituted with 19 months’ imprisonment, comprising five months’ imprisonment on each of the two charges of driving while disqualified, five months’ imprisonment on the charge of male assaults female, nine months’ imprisonment on the charge of breach of protection order, nine months’ imprisonment on the charge of assault in a family relationship, and one month imprisonment on each of the charges of breach of supervision. The special release conditions recommended by the probation officer were also imposed.

Orders