Supreme Court case information

Listed below are the substantive Supreme Court cases for the year along with appeals still to be determined or cases awaiting hearing. 

Information giving an overview of the case is included along with media releases and links to judgments being appealed when available.

All 2024 - 2014 Supreme Court cases dismissed or deemed to be dismissed where a notice of abandonment was received can be found here.

Transcripts for cases heard before the Supreme Court are included provided they are not suppressed. Transcripts from pre-trial hearings are not published until the final disposition of trial. These are unedited transcripts and they are not a formal record of the Court’s proceedings. The Ministry of Justice does not accept responsibility for the accuracy or completeness of any material and recommends that users exercise their own skill and care with respect to its use.

28 November 2025

Case information summary 2025 (as at 28 November 2025) –  Cases where leave granted (PDF, 87 KB)
Case information summary 2025 (as at 28 November 2025)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 120 KB)

All years

Case name
David Noel Roigard v The Queen 
Case number
SC 25/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in relation to evidential matters (namely jury directions and prejudice in relation to cellmate confession evidence) – Whether the Court of Appeal wrongly determined aggravating factors in determining a minimum period of imprisonment.
Result
A Leave to appeal against conviction is granted to the extent described below (Roigard v R [2019] NZCA 8).
B The approved question is whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the admissibility of the proposed evidence of the witnesses F and W.
C Leave to appeal against sentence is declined.
27 June 2019
__________________________________________________
The appeal is dismissed.
14 September 2020
Media Releases
High Court decision
R v ROIGARD [2016] NZHC 166 [15 February 2016]
Court of Appeal decision
ROIGARD v R [2019] NZCA 8 [13 February 2019]
Leave judgment - leave granted
DAVID NOEL ROIGARD v R [2019] NZSC 63 [27 June 2019] (PDF, 232 KB)
Substantive judgment
DAVID NOEL ROIGARD v R [2020] NZSC 94 [14 September 2020] (PDF, 277 KB)
Hearing - Judges

3 October 2019

Winkelmann CJ, Glazebrook, O'Regan, Ellen France, and Williams JJ
Case synopsis
 Case synopsis SC 25/2019 David Noel Roigard v The Queen
Case name
D(SC 26/2018) v The Queen
Case number
SC 26/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the appellant’s call to a mental health line should have been admitted at trial – Whether the appellant should have been permitted to lead evidence under Evidence Act 2006, s 44(1) – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in dismissing the appeal against conviction.
Result
The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
10 July 2019
District Court decision
Not publicly available
Court of Appeal decision
D (CA54/2018) v R [2019] NZCA 1 [5 February 2019]
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
D (SC 26/2019) v R [2019] NZSC 72 [10 July 2019] (PDF, 50 KB)
Case name
Eugene John De Marco v The Queen
Case number
SC 28/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal - Application for leave to bring a pre-trial appeal
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B Order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including the result) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.
3 May 2019
District Court decision
Not publicly available
High Court decision
Not publicly available
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
EUGENE JOHN DE MARCO v R [2019] NZSC 43 [3 May 2019] (PDF, 38 KB)
Case name
Anaru Hori White v The Queen
Case number
SC 30/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal - Application for leave to bring a pre-trial appeal
Result
A The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
B Order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceedings (including the result) in news media or on the internet or other publicly available database until final disposition of trial. Publication in law report or law digest permitted.
22 May 2019
District Court decision
Not publicly available
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ANARU HORI WHITE v R [2019] NZSC 53 [22 May 2019] (PDF, 46 KB)
Case name
D v New Zealand Police
Case number
SC 31/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal
Result
The judgment of this Court of 21 June 2019 ([2019] NZSC 58) is
recalled and reissued with the applicant’s name anonymised.
9 February 2021
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A The application for leave to appeal against an order that the applicant be placed on the Child Sex Offender Register is granted ([2019] NZCA 30).
B The approved question is whether and, if so, how the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 has to be taken into account in decisions under s 9 of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016.
21 June 2019
Reissued 9 February 2021
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------
A The application to adduce further evidence is granted.
B The appeal is allowed.
C The registration order made by the District Court under s 9(1) of the Child Protection (Child Sex Offender Government Agency Registration) Act 2016 is quashed.
9 February 2021
Transcripts
Media Releases
High Court decision
Not publicly available
Court of Appeal decision
Not publicly available
Substantive judgment
D (SC 31/2019) v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZSC 2 [9 February 2021] (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Additional document
D (SC 31/2019) v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2021] NZSC 1 [9 February 2021] (reissue judgment) (PDF, 147 KB)
Additional document
D (SC 31/2019) v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2019] NZSC 58 [21 June 2019] (re-issued judgment) (PDF, 115 KB)
Case name
Pavlos Paul Gizelis v The Queen
Case number
SC 33/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal was correct to dismiss the appeal against conviction and sentence for sexual violation and kidnapping – Whether the Court of Appeal should have admitted DNA evidence led at trial – Whether the Applicant was impaired by medication in his ability to make an informed decision to elect to give evidence and whether that meant he did not receive a fair trial.
Result
The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
30 August 2019
High Court decision
Not publicly available
Court of Appeal decision
Not publicly available
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PAVLOS PAUL GIZELIS v R [2019] NZSC 94 [30 August 2019] (PDF, 47 KB)
Case name
Jeffrey Robert Bunting v The Queen
Case number
SC 44/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that there was no material trial counsel error – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that propensity evidence was admissible.
Result
A The application for an extension of time is granted.
B The application for leave to appeal is dismissed with leave reserved as set out in [11] below.
9 September 2019
Transcripts
District Court decision
Not publicly available
Court of Appeal decision
BUNTING v R [2018] NZCA 602 [20 December 2018]
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
JEFFREY ROBERT BUNTING v R [2019] NZSC 95 [9 September 2019] (PDF, 46 KB)
Oral leave hearing date
Thursday 29 August 2019
Case name
Peter Hugh McGregor Ellis v The King
Case number
SC 49/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether there was a miscarriage of justice arising from risks of contamination of or improperly obtained complainant evidence - Whether there was a miscarriage of justice arising from lack of expert evidence on the reliability of children complainants’ evidence – Whether there was a miscarriage of justice due to unreliable expert evidence being led at trial.
Result
A The application for an extension of time to apply for leave to appeal is granted.
B The application for leave to appeal is granted.  
C The approved ground of appeal is whether a miscarriage of justice occurred in this case.  
31 July 2019
_____________________________________________________
The appeal is to continue despite the death of the appellant.
1 September 2020
_____________________________________________________
A The applications to adduce further evidence are granted.
B The appeal is allowed.
C The convictions of the appellant are quashed.
7 October 2022
Date of hearing
04 October 2021 - 15 October 2021
Judges
Winkelmann CJ, Glazebrook, O'Regan, Williams and Arnold JJ
Transcripts
Case Synopses
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2019] NZSC 83 [31 July 2019] (PDF, 220 KB)
Substantive judgment
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2020] NZSC 89 [1 September 2020] (PDF, 70 KB)
Additional document
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2020] NZSC 137 [13 November 2020] Reasons 7 December 2020 (PDF, 202 KB)
Supreme court decision
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2021] NZSC 63 [15 June 2021] (PDF, 113 KB)
Supreme court decision
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2021] NZSC 77 [1 July 2021] (PDF, 260 KB)
Substantive judgment
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2022] NZSC 114 [7 October 2022] (PDF, 1.1 MB)
Substantive judgment
PETER HUGH MCGREGOR ELLIS v R [2022] NZSC 115 [7 October 2022] (PDF, 1 MB)
Videos
Case name
Lance Phillip Newing v New Zealand Police
Case number
SC 51/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Driving with excess blood alcohol – Whether the District Court erred in refusing to discharge the applicant without conviction.
Result
The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.  22 August 2019
District Court decision
Not publicly available
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
LANCE PHILLIP NEWING v NEW ZEALAND POLICE [2019] NZSC 90 [22 August 2019] (PDF, 36 KB)
Case name
David Owen Lyttle v The Queen
Case number
SC 54/2019
Summary
Criminal Appeal - Application for leave to bring a pre-trial appeal
Result
A The application for leave to bring a pre-trial appeal is dismissed.
B We make an order prohibiting publication of the judgment and any part of the proceeding (including the result) in the news media or on the internet or on any other publicly available database until final disposition of the trial. Publication in a law report or law digest is permitted.
18 July 2019
District Court decision
Not publicly available
Court of Appeal decision
Not publicly available
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
DAVID OWEN LYTTLE v R [2019] NZSC 75 [18 July 2019] (PDF, 42 KB)
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