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
Wendy Maree Whitehead v The Queen
Case number
SC 136/2014
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Crimes Act 1961, ss 229A(b) and 228(b); and Accident Compensation Act 2001 – Whether insufficient direction was given to the jury as to what constituted a de facto relationship – Whether loss of entitlement ought to have been determined  before the criminal trial.[2014] NZCA 573  CA  300/2014
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
30 March 2015
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WENDY MAREE WHITEHEAD v R [2015] NZSC 29   30 March 2015 (PDF, 124 KB)
Judgment appealed from

WHITEHEAD V R CA367/2014 [2014] NZCA 573    28 November 2014
Case name
Michael Christopher Cruickshank v The Queen
Case number
SC 140/2014
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the trial Judge misdirected the jury as to the state of the applicant’s knowledge of whether the medical certificate was accurate – Whether the trial Court had jurisdiction to determine loss or abatement of entitlement in light of the Accident Compensation Act 2001, section 133(5) – Whether there was a sufficient evidential foundation for an award of reparation[2014] NZCA 574 CA  367/2014
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
31 March 2015
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MICHAEL CHRISTOPHER CRUICKSHANK v R [2015] NZSC 32   31 March 2015 (PDF, 75 KB)
Judgment appealed from

CRUICKSHANK V R CA300/2014 [2014] NZCA 574     28 November 2014
Case name
Neal Medhurst Nicholls v The Queen
Case number
SC 10/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Crimes Act 1961, s 220 – Theft by person in a special relationship – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the trial judge had applied the correct test for intention in relation to a s 220 charge – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that the Crown had established that the appellants knew that the relevant transactions were in breach of the relevant requirements beyond reasonable doubt. [2012] NZCA 610  CA 624/2012
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
19 April 2013.
Case name
Wayne Leslie Douglas v The Queen
Case number
SC 11/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Crimes Act 1961, s 220 – Theft by person in a special relationship – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the trial judge had applied the correct test for intention in relation to a s 220 charge – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that the Crown had established that the appellants knew that the relevant transactions were in breach of the relevant requirements beyond reasonable doubt. [2012] NZCA 610  CA 623/2012
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
19 April 2013.
Case name
B v The Queen
Case number
SC 12/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Evidence Act 2006 – Appeal against conviction for sexual violation by rape – evidence – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the trial Judge had applied s 44 of the Evidence Act correctly in excluding certain evidence relating to the  reputation of the complainant in sexual matters. [2012] NZCA 602  CA 862/2011
Media Releases
Substantive judgment
B (SC12/2013) v R [2013] NZSC 151 [19 December 2013] (PDF, 382 KB)
Dates

A Leave to appeal is granted.
B The approved questions are whether:
(i) in light of ss 7 and 44 of the Evidence Act 2006, the Judge should have permitted the applicant to lead all (or some) of the proposed evidence; and
(ii) the apparent inconsistency of the jury’s verdicts warranted the allowing of the appeal.
18 April 2013
Case name
Jason Mark Ferguson v The Queen
Case number
SC 13/2013
Summary
Appeal – Crimes Act 1961 – Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003 – Appeal against sentence – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in refusing to grant an extension of time to appeal against sentence – Whether in light of the Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003, which is expressly retrospective, prisoners with recognised intellectual disabilities who were sentenced prior to that Act entering into force are entitled to be resentenced and eligible for detention in intellectual disability care under s 34(1)(b)(ii) of that Act – Whether the appellant, as a prisoner with a recognised intellectual disability is entitled to the benefit of that law change and should, instead of being sentenced to life imprisonment, be detained in compulsory intellectual disability care – Whether the sentencing court and Court of Appeal failed to understand and consider the appellant’s intellectual disability[2012] NZCA 581  CA 162/2011
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
11 April 2013.
Case name
Robert Keith Jeffries v The Queen
Case number
SC 14/2013
Summary
Criminal appeal – Appeal against conviction – Sexual violation, inducing an indecent act, indecent assault – Mild mental retardation – Jurisdiction of trial judge to decide the question of fitness to stand trial in circumstances where he has taken over the hearing from another judge – Failure to provide adequate accommodations at the beginning of, and during proceedings – Whether use of the dock in criminal trials is lawful – Substantial miscarriage of justice.   [2012] NZCA 608  CA 742/2010
Result
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
15 April 2013.
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
JEFFRIES v R SC 14/2013 [15 April 2013] (PDF, 52 KB)
Case name
DMT v The Queen
Case number
SC 16/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Evidence Act, s 49 – Admissibility of convictions of a co-accused – Whether the Court of Appeal was correct to find that where evidence of the convictions of a co-accused were admitted as circumstantial evidence the prejudicial effect of the evidence was likely to be less than the prejudice arising where that evidence conclusively proved an element of the offence. [2012] NZCA 605  CA 448/2012
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
5 March 2013
Case name
Jacob Adriaan Britz v The Queen
Case number
SC 17/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Criminal Procedure (Mentally Impaired Persons) Act 2003, s 4(1) – whether the Court of Appeal was incorrect to apply the high threshold set out in SR v R [2011] NZCA 409 in circumstances where the applicant was seeking retrospectively to assert incompetence.[2012] NZCA 606  CA 161/2012
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
19 April 2013.
Case name
Max John Beckham v The Queen
Case number
SC 18/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – Whether the Court of Appeal wrongly stated and wrongly applied the test for sentence reduction as a remedy for police misconduct amounting to a breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990.[2012] NZCA 603  CA 608/2011
Result
Leave to appeal is granted. The approved ground of appeal is:
Should the appellant have received a reduction in his sentence for the breach of his rights under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990?  
1 April 2014
_____________
A The application for leave to appeal against conviction is dismissed.
B The appeal against sentence is dismissed.
7 July 2015
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
BECKHAM v R [2013] NZSC 70 [16 July 2013] (PDF, 11 KB)
Supreme court decision
MAX JOHN BECKHAM v R [2015] NZSC 98 [7 July 2015 (PDF, 373 KB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 1 April 2014

Hearing date : 3 and 4 March 2015

Elias CJ, William Young, Glazebrook, Arnold, O’Regan JJ
Page 64 of 109