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 Neil Balfour  v The Queen
Case number
SC 110/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Animal welfare – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the District Court Judge’s pre-trial ruling was correct – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that there was no improper use of representative charges – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in declining to rule the evidence of two expert witnesses as inadmissible.  [2013] NZCA 429   CA 445/2012
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

18 December 2013.
Case name
Daryl Kirsty Reid Balfour   v The Queen
Case number
SC 111/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Animal welfare – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that the District Court Judge’s pre-trial ruling was correct – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in holding that there was no improper use of representative charges – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in declining to rule the evidence of two expert witnesses as inadmissible.  [2013] NZCA 429   CA 444/2012
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

18 December 2013.
Case name
K   v The Queen
Case number
SC 113/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the evidence of the taped conversation was wrongly admitted at trial.[2013] NZCA 430   CA 106/2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
K v R [2014] NZSC 10 [20 February 2014] (PDF, 63 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

20 February 2014.
Case name
FMB   v The Queen
Case number
SC 114/2013
Summary
Criminal appeal – Pre-trial – Cultivation of Cannabis – Misuse of Drugs Act 1975, s 9 – Breach of implied licence by police officer – Trespass – Evidence of cultivation obtained in the course of illegal search of property –Admission of improperly obtained evidence under Crimes Act 1961, s 379AB – Whether Court of Appeal correctly concluded that exclusion of the improperly obtained evidence would be disproportionate to the impropriety given the moderately serious breach of applicant’s rights and seriousness of the offending – Whether Court of Appeal correctly took into account the maximum penalty for the offence rather than the likely penalty the applicant would receive in their assessment of whether the offending was serious – Evidence Act 2006, s 30 – Admission of evidence is a substantial miscarriage of justice. [2013] NZCA 258   CA 66/2013
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.

26  November 2014.
Case name
MH v The Queen
Case number
SC 116/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Evidence Act s 30 – pre-trial – whether the Court of Appeal erred in admitting evidence under s 30 of the Evidence Act.[2013] NZCA 432   CA 228/2013
Result
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.

10 December 2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
JOHN LESTER MACKENZIE v R [2013] NZSC 143 [10 December 2013] (PDF, 57 KB)
Case name
Ross Dallimore v The Queen
Case number
SC 119/2013
Summary
Criminal appeal – Appeal against sentence – Undischarged bankrupt carrying on management of a business – Insolvency Act 2006, ss 149(1)(a) and 436(1)(b) – Whether Court of Appeal was correct to conclude that the sentence was not manifestly excessive given that the applicant was allegedly not involved in financial management of the business.[2012] NZCA 437  CA 199/2012
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ROSS DALLIMORE v R [2014] NZSC 25 [25 March 2014] (PDF, 12 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

25 March 2014.
Case name
Anthony David Banbrook v The Queen
Case number
SC 123/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the decision of the High Court refusing to stay the prosecution on the grounds of breach of s 25 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in refusing to allow an application to set aside the guilty plea on the basis that the plea was induced by a ruling that embodied a wrong decision on a question of law.[2013] NZCA 525   CA 147/2013
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
18 December 2013.
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BANBROOK v R [2013] NZSC 148 [18 December 2013] (PDF, 46 KB)
Case name
Wan Lee Chow v The Queen
Case number
SC 126/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Crimes Act 1961, s 385; New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, ss 9, 24(g) and 25(a); Sentencing Act 2002, s 104 – Whether the trial was unfair because disclosed documents were not translated and no special measures were taken during the trial to accommodate the appellant’ s intellectual difficulties – Whether the appellant’s sentence should have been discounted on the basis of intellectual impairment, age and hardship due to isolation resulting from communication difficulties – Whether intellectual impairment, age and hardship due to isolation resulting from communication difficulties should have led to a finding that the application of s 104 of the Sentencing Act was manifestly unjust – Whether the length of the sentence imposed amounted to disproportionately severe punishment in breach of s 9 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act.[2013] NZCA 360   CA 695/2011
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WAN YEE CHOW v R [2014] NZSC 29 [28 March 2014] (PDF, 41 KB)
Dates

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

28 March 2014.
Case name
Patrick Dean Norris  v The Queen
Case number
SC 127/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Crimes Act 1961, s 220 – whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that the requirements of s 220 were met – whether the Court of Appeal erred in refusing to allow the applicant to adduce new evidence[2013] NZCA 526  CA 59/2013
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PATRICK DEAN NORRIS v R [2013] NZSC 138 [4 December 2013] (PDF, 84 KB)
Dates

 Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

4 December 2013.
Case name
Terry Jones  v The Queen
Case number
SC 128/2013
Summary
Criminal Appeal – Whether the Court of Appeal lacked jurisdiction to hear the appeal because there was no question of law to be decided – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in setting aside the stay granted by the High Court.[2013] NZCA 483  CA 826/2012
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TERRY JONES v R [2014] NZSC 85   4 July 2014 (PDF, 88 KB)
Dates

Leave hearing  7 April 2014

Application for leave to appeal dismissed.

4 July 2014.
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