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.

20 March 2026

Case information summary 2025 (as at 20 March 2026) –  Cases where leave granted (PDF, 88 KB)
Case information summary 2025 (as at 20 March 2026)  – Cases where leave to appeal decision not yet made (PDF, 123 KB) 

All years

Case name
Ri Tong Zhou v The Queen
Case number
SC 79/2009
Summary
Criminal appeal – appeal against sentence – convictions under the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 – minimum period of imprisonment of eight years imposed by High Court – the basis of the appeal to the Court of Appeal was disparity in relation to the sentences imposed for similar offending by the applicant’s associates – whether the Court of Appeal erred in dismissing the appeal despite an apparent injustice to the applicant – whether there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice.[2009] NZCA 365    CA 209/2009   18 August 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 15 December 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ZHOU V R SC 79/2009 15 December 2009
Case name
Richard Donald Collins v The Queen
Case number
SC 80/2009
Summary
Criminal – Firearms and manufacturing and supply of drugs convictions – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in finding that s 61 of the Arms Act 1983 was not restricted for use in emergency situations – Whether the Court of Appeal was wrong to hold that s 18(2) of the Misuse of Drugs Act 1975 authorised the Police to search the applicant’s property – Whether the Court of Appeal were wrong to find that the applicant had made certain admissions before the police search.[2009] NZCA 88   CA 643/2008, CA 157/2009   4 September 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
9 February 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
COLLINS V R SC 80/2009 9 February 2010 (PDF, 11 KB)
Case name
Michael Wauchop Porter v The Queen
Case number
SC 85/2009
Summary
Criminal – s 361D Crimes Act 1961 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its interpretation of s 361D of the Act – Whether the Court of Appeal had sufficient regard to ss 24(e) or 5 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 when interpreting s 361D.[2009] NZCA 380  CA 255/09  28 August 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 20 October 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PORTER AND ORS V R SC 85/2009 20 October 2009
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
Miles Gainsford Elliott v The Queen
Case number
SC 86/2009
Summary
Criminal – s 361D Crimes Act 1961 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred n its interpretation of s 361D of the Act – Whether the Court of Appeal had sufficient regard to ss 24(e) or 5 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 when interpreting s 361D.[2009] NZCA 380  CA 256/09  28 August 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 20 October 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PORTER AND ORS V R SC 85/2009 20 October 2009
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
Dharminder Singh v The Queen
Case number
SC 87/2009
Summary
Criminal – s 361D Crimes Act 1961 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its interpretation of s 361D of the Act – Whether the Court of Appeal had sufficient regard to ss 24(e) or 5 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 when interpreting s 361D.[2009] NZCA 380  CA 273/09  28 August 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 20 October 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PORTER AND ORS V R SC 85/2009 20 October 2009
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
Surjit Singh v The Queen
Case number
SC 88/2009
Summary
Criminal – s 361D Crimes Act 1961 – Whether the Court of Appeal erred in its interpretation of s 361D of the Act – Whether the Court of Appeal had sufficient regard to ss 24(e) or 5 of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 when interpreting s 361D[2009] NZCA 380  CA 279/09  28 August 2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 20 October 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
PORTER AND ORS V R SC 85/2009 20 October 2009
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
Phillip Michael McMaster v The Queen
Case number
SC 91/2009
Summary
Criminal appeal – appeal against convictions for aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle – whether the Court of Appeal erred in concluding that the evidence of two co-accused was insufficiently cogent to give rise to a miscarriage of justice when the Crown case identifying the applicant as a participant in the offending was reliant on a third co-accused who was motivated to give false evidence to minimise his role in the offending.[2009] NZCA 393  CA 608/2008   9 September   2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 10 February 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MCMASTER V R SC 91/2009 11 February 2010 (PDF, 9 KB)
Transcript

 
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
The Queen v George Evans Gwaze
Case number
SC 93/2009
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against case stated decision – Whether Court of Appeal majority erred in concluding that the trial Judge’s decision to allow inadmissible hearsay “evidence” was an error of fact rather than an error of law and that therefore the case stated provisions of the Crimes Act 1961 were not engaged – Whether the Court of Appeal President erred in concluding that the Crown could succeed on an appeal under ss 380 and 380 of the Crimes Act 1961 in this case only if “To set aside the acquittal and direct a new trial would not be an unacceptable derogation from the spirit of the rule against double jeopardy”.[2009] NZCA 430  CA 90/2009   24 September   2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
23 November 2009
______________________
A The appeal is allowed and the acquittals are quashed. B A new trial is directed under s  382(2)(b) of the Crimes Act 1961. C  A certified direction for new trial will issue to the Registrar of the High Court at Christchurch with the consequences provided for by ss 380(4) and 382(4) of the Crimes Act.
17 May 2010
Transcripts
Media Releases
Leave judgment - leave granted
R v GWAZE SC 93/2009 [23 November 2009] (PDF, 7 KB)
Substantive judgment
R v GWAZE SC 93/2009 [17 May 2010] (PDF, 167 KB)
Transcript

Hearing date : 25 February 2010

Elias CJ, Blanchard, McGrath, Wilson J.
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
Justin Leigh Harney v New Zealand Police
Case number
SC 94/2009
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction - appellant convicted in the District Court on charges of reckless driving and failing to stop – whether the Judge was correct in finding that there were good reasons for not following a formal identification procedure – whether the Judge was correct in finding that the circumstances in which the identification was made produced a reliable identification beyond reasonable doubt - application made to appeal from the High Court directly to the Supreme Court because the area of law has recently been considered by the Court of Appeal and the Court is divided on this issue.CRI 2009 – 409 – 141   13  October   2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 8 December 2009
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
HARNEY V NEW ZEALAND POLICE SC 94/2009 8 December 2009
Judgment appealed from

 
Case name
Alex Kwong Wong v The Queen
Case number
SC 96/2009
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – convictions for importing methamphetamine and possessing for supply – during jury deliberations at the applicant’s retrial (following successful appeal in R v Wong [2008] 3 NZLR 1) the jury sent a note to the judge stating that they had finished deliberating, the judge sought clarification and the jury sent a second note stating that they were unable to reach a unanimous verdict on any of the charges, noting that “further effort would result in bullying” – the judge gave a standard Papadopoulos direction – whether the Court of Appeal erred in upholding the applicant’s convictions as safe – whether there has been a substantial miscarriage of justice – whether the Court of Appeal erred in determining that the applicant’ s minimum period of imprisonment was set correctly – whether the High Court judge wrongly allowed the Police to destroy certain evidence after the first trial – the applicant also seeks an interlocutory order to adduce both rebuttal evidence and new evidence in the form of a market research survey.[2009] NZCA 440   CA  190/2009, CA 356/2009  28 September   2009
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismised. 2 March 2010
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
WONG V R SC 96/2009 2 March 2010
Recall judgment
ALEX KWONG WONG v R [2014] NZSC 171 [25 November 2014] (PDF, 52 KB)
Judgment appealed from

 
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