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
Ross Francis Hookway v The Queen
Case number
SC 1/2008
Summary
Criminal appeal – whether trial counsel is required to inform an accused of his or her right to instruct counsel and for counsel to be bound by those instructions – whether trial Judge was correct to give a Papadopoulos direction when the jury appeared to be deadlocked.[2007] NZCA 567 CA 466/06 11 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
HOOKWAY v R SC 1/2008 [9 April 2008] (PDF, 18 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
9 April 2008
Case name
A v The Queen
Case number
SC 4/2008
Summary
Criminal – applicant convicted of sexual violation by rape – victim was applicant’s three-year-old daughter – charges were brought after victim was diagnosed with gonorrhoea. Whether alleged expert evidence, supporting the possibility of non-sexual transmission of the disease, renders the conviction unsafe – application for leave to appeal out of time due to newly available evidence.CA 508/04 28 November 2005
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
A v R SC 4/2008 [9 April 2008] (PDF, 17 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
9 April 2008
Case name
Robert Charles De Bruin v The Queen
Case number
SC 11/2008
Summary
Criminal appeal – applicant’ s indictment was amended after his preliminary hearing to provide that he would be charged jointly with his co-accused – whether applicant had standing to attend the preliminary hearing of his co-accused – whether applicant’ s inability to do so rendered his trial unfair so that a miscarriage of justice has occurred.[2007] NZCA 600 CA 296/06 21 December 2007
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 1 May 2008
Case name
Timothy Justin Nevin v The Queen
Case number
SC 12/2008
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction – charges of assault with a weapon and possession of an offensive weapon – whether Court of Appeal erred in its consideration of other cases involving inconsistent verdicts – whether Court of Appeal erred in its analysis of evidence given at trial.
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
NEVIN v R SC 12/2008 [20 May 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
20 May 2008
20 May 2008
Case name
Jonathan Nuki Lummis Jarden v The Queen
Case number
SC 14/2008
Summary
Criminal Appeal – conspiracy to supply methamphetamine – appeal against sentence - whether a Court should use sentencing guidelines based on actual supply of specified weights of drugs when considering a sentence for conspiracy to supply an unspecified quantity of drugs - whether the Court of Appeal considered such a distinction when dismissing the appeal to that Court[2008] NZCA 48 CA292/07 5 March 2008
Media Releases
- sc 14 2008 jarden v r (PDF, 86 KB)
Substantive judgment
JARDEN v R SC 14/2008 [28 August 2008] (PDF, 38 KB)
Leave judgment - leave granted
JARDEN v R SC 14/2008 [9 May 2008] (PDF, 12 KB)
Transcription
Dates
Application for leave to appeal granted.
9 May 2008
_________________________
Appeal allowed. Sentence of three years imprisonment
quashed. Sentence of two years six months imprisonment substituted.
28 August 2008
Case name
Ahmad Zanzoul v The Queen
Case number
SC 17/2008
Summary
Criminal appeal – applicant convicted after pleading guilty pursuant to s 153A of the Summary Proceedings Act 1957 on an information laid under s 31(1)(f)(ii) of the Passports Act 1992 – sentenced to 15 months imprisonment with leave to apply for home detention – whether the conviction and sentence is a nullity for want of legal certainty or vagueness of the provisions dealing with the indictable and summary jurisdiction for penalty purposes – alternatively, whether the Court of Appeal erred in law by constructing the legislation to the applicant’s detriment in failing to apply the lesser penalty where the legislation was “complex and confusing” – additionally, whether admissions were obtained without informing the applicant of his rights not to incriminate himself, to silence, and to obtain a lawyer in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 – whether, under art 36 of the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations read in conjunction with the Refugee Convention, the applicant should, as a refugee claimant, have been provided on detainment with advice by a consular or appropriate international official – whether a Hansen declaration should be made with regard to this issue – whether the applicant’s hearing before the Refugee Status Appeals Authority was unlawful for lack of independence and impartiality on the principles of Charanjit Singh v Secretary of State for the Home Department [2003] ScotCS 342 – whether the Court of Appeal erred in fact and law in finding and taking into account that there is nothing linking the appellant’s possession of a false Australian passport with his claim for refugee status – whether the Court of Appeal erred in law in taking into account that the applicant was not in the situation of many refugee claimants – application for name suppression.CA 297/06 6 December 2006
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ZANZOUL v R SC 17/2008 [10 June 2008] (PDF, 25 KB)
Additional document
ZANZOUL v R SC 17/2008 [9 May 2008] (PDF, 14 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
10 June 2008
Case name
Shaun Antony King v The Queen
Case number
SC 18/2008
Summary
Criminal – appeal by way of case stated – Juries Act 1981 – applicant challenges the legality and fairness of jury-vetting, under the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990, the Privacy Act 1993 and the Criminal Records (Clean Slate) Act 2004 – whether controls should operate over prosecution use of information including, but not limited to, the criminal history of a potential jury member – whether disclosure by the prosecution to the defence should be required in relation to such information.[2008] NZCA 79 CA 207/2007 10 April 2008
Leave judgment - leave granted
GORDON-SMITH v R SC 32/2008 [25 July 2008] (PDF, 48 KB)
Transcript
Case name
Arthur William Taylor v The Queen
Case number
SC 19/2008
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – charges of escape from lawful custody and unlawful detention – whether the Court of Appeal was correct in finding in R v Carolyn Rochelle Taylor [2007] NZCA 318 that the applicant was at the time in lawful custody – whether the Trial Judge was correct to reject a plea under s 357 Crimes Act 1961 for previous acquittal on the unlawful detention charge - whether the sentence was excessive, or a minimum term appropriate.CRI 2005 085 5744 19 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TAYLOR v R SC 19/2008 [26 May 2008] (PDF, 17 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
26 May 2008.
Case name
Alan Ivor Greer v The Queen
Case number
SC 20/2008
Summary
Summary Criminal appeal – bail – whether the Court of Appeal was wrong to refuse the appellant’s application for bail pending hearing of his appeal against sentence – whether undue delay in processing the appeal has hindered the appellant’s ability to prepare for his appeal against sentence – whether inadequate facilities available to the appellant as a sentenced prisoner have prevented the appellant from adequately preparing for the appeal.[2008] NZCA 90 CA 179/06 17 April 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
greervqueenbail 000 (PDF, 13 KB)
Dates
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
9 May 2008
Case name
Carolyn Rochelle Taylor v The Queen
Case number
SC 22/2008
Summary
Criminal – Appeal against conviction on three charges of unlawful possession of airgun, assisting escape from lawful custody and kidnapping – Whether Court of Appeal erred in finding prisoner Appellant assisted to escape (AT) was in lawful custody.[2007] NZCA 318 CA 40/07 27 July 2007
Dates
Notice of abandonment being lodged the application for leave to appeal dismissed.
26 June 2008
26 June 2008
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