White v The King - [2025] NZHC 1203

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND AUCKLAND REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TĀMAKI MAKAURAU ROHE

CRI-2025-404-149

CRI-2025-404-150 [2025] NZHC 1203

BETWEEN
KIMANI WHITE

Appellant

AND

THE KING

Respondent

Hearing: 15 May 2025

Appearances:

C S Fredric for Appellant S J Cox for Respondent

Judgment:

16 May 2025

Reissued:

19 May 2025

JUDGMENT OF LANG J

[on appeal against sentence]

This judgment was delivered by Justice Lang On 16 May 2025 at 3.00 pm
Registrar/Deputy Registrar Date:…………………………

Solicitors/counsel:
Kayes Fletcher Walker, Crown Solicitor at Manukau C S Fredric, Barrister, Auckland

WHITE v R [2025] NZHC 1203 [16 May 2025]

[1] Ms White pleaded guilty in the District Court to several charges involving allegations of dishonest conduct. On 27 February 2025, Judge D J McNaughton sentenced her to two years 10 months’ imprisonment.1

[2] Ms White appeals against sentence. She contends the Judge erred in principle in several respects when formulating the sentence. As a result, she asserts the end sentence was manifestly excessive.

The offending

[3] The Judge sentenced Ms White on three sets of charges. The most serious of these was a charge of robbery. This related to an incident that occurred on the evening of 8 March 2023. The victim of this offending was taking a nap in his vehicle in a public carpark. Ms White and her female co-offender approached the vehicle, causing the victim to wake up. They both asked him for the use of a cigarette lighter and he refused.

[4] Ms White then got into the victim’s vehicle and continued to ask for a lighter. She opened a compartment in the centre console and removed $600 in cash that the victim had stored there. A struggle then ensued between the victim and Ms White. This resulted in the victim managing to regain possession of the sum of $400.

[5] At this point, Ms White’s co-offender opened the driver’s side door of the vehicle and pulled the victim away from Ms White. Ms White’s co-offender then punched the victim approximately four to five times to his face. Ms White used this opportunity to get out of the vehicle and run away with the remaining cash. Her co-offender joined her in running away.

[6] The victim continued to follow Ms White and her co-offender. Her co-offender responded by turning around and grabbing him in a bear hug. She then threw him to the ground, before kicking him three to four times to the head and body. She also punched him on five or six occasions to the head and body. Ms White and her co-offender then got back in their own vehicle and drove away. The victim suffered a

1 R v White [2025] NZDC 4397.

grazed elbow and cuts to one of his fingers and the back of his right hand. He also suffered injuries to his teeth and mouth.

[7] Ms White was originally charged with aggravated robbery as a result of this incident. On the day of the hearing, which was…

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 White v The King

Details

AGLC: White v The King [2025] NZHC 1203
Case: [2025] NZHC 1203
Decision Date: 16 May 2025

CaseChat Overview and Summary

In this case, Ms White appeals against her sentence imposed by Judge D J McNaughton in the District Court. Ms White was sentenced to two years and ten months’ imprisonment after pleading guilty to several charges involving allegations of dishonest conduct, including robbery and theft. The appeal focuses on several aspects of the sentencing process, including the starting point on the robbery charge, the uplift applied to reflect the remaining charges, the failure to give Ms White credit for time spent subject to electronically monitored bail conditions, and the credit given for rehabilitative efforts. The Court found that the starting point on the robbery charge was appropriate, but the uplift on the remaining charges was excessive. The Court also found that the Judge was entitled to reduce the credit to be given for time spent on electronically monitored bail, but some credit should have been given. Lastly, the Court found that the Judge was entitled to give limited credit for rehabilitative efforts undertaken by Ms White prior to sentencing.

The appeal against sentence is allowed. The sentence imposed on the robbery charge is set aside and a sentence of two years five months is substituted. The sentences imposed on the robbery charge and the charge of stealing the gold bracelet are set aside. In their place, concurrent sentences of two years five months imprisonment are substituted.

Orders