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
Alex Kwong Wong v The Queen
Case number
SC 53/2007
Summary
Summary Criminal – appeal against convictions – serious drug offending – whether trial should have proceeded with ten jurors – consistency of guilty verdicts with acquittal of the accused on other counts and acquittal of co-accused – whether Court of Appeal correctly applied R v H [2000] 2 NZLR 581 – whether verdict in relation to one (money laundering) count is unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence – applicant seeking leave to raise various other new grounds as evidencing a substantial miscarriage of justice at trial.CA 329/06 6 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal granted.
24 September 2007
________________________
Appeal allowed, convictions set aside. New trial ordered.
18 April 2008
24 September 2007
________________________
Appeal allowed, convictions set aside. New trial ordered.
18 April 2008
Substantive judgment
ALEX KWONG WONG v R SC 53/2007 [18 April 2008] (PDF, 26 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Application for rehearing or addition of new ground of appeal
Substantive judgment
Transcript
Case name
Mustafa Can v The Queen
Case number
SC 54/2007
Summary
Criminal – sexual violation – s 128 Crimes Act 1961 – whether the jury direction on the applicant’s reasonable belief in consent, based on the test in R v Gutuama (Court of Appeal, CA 275/01, 13 December 2001), was in conflict with the statutory language in s 128 Crimes Act 1961 – whether expert evidence as to the intellectual limitations of the complainant was wrongly admitted.CA 492/05 16 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 27 November 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MUSTAFA CAN v R SC 54/2007 [27 November 2007] (PDF, 19 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Shahram Aram v The Queen
Case number
SC 60/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction and sentence – convicted of five drug offences –whether substantial miscarriage of justice may have occurred – fresh evidence of corruption, conspiracy and perjury – seeking order quashing conviction and sentence or, alternatively, order for retrial. CA 407/06 2 August 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
4 December 2007
4 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
ARAM V R SC 60/2007 [4 December 2007] (PDF, 15 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Christopher Cliff Morris v The Queen
Case number
SC 61/2007
Summary
Criminal appeal – Crimes Act 1961, s 229A – using a tax document with intent to defraud – whether, under the Tax Administration Act 1994, employees of the Inland Revenue Department can give evidence in the prosecution – whether ss 81(1) and 81(3) of that Act preclude employees of the Inland Revenue Department giving evidence unless either the prosecution is initiated by the Commissioner of Inland Revenue for offences under the Inland Revenue Acts or the evidence falls within one of the exceptions listed in s 81(4) – whether the Court of Appeal was correct to direct a new trial under s 382 of the Crimes Act 1961 – application for leave to appeal out of time.CA 120/04 4 November 2004
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 30 October 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MORRIS v R SC 61/2007 [30 October 2007] (PDF, 18 KB)
Case name
Jule Patrick Burns v The Queen
Case number
SC 65/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against conviction for murder – whether verdict should be set aside on the ground that it is unreasonable or cannot be supported having regard to the evidence – whether DNA evidence was properly admitted at trial.CA 152/2006 [2007] NZCA 308 23 July 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
BURNS v R SC 65/2007 [5 March 2008] (PDF, 16 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Ian Kenneth McMillan v The Queen
Case number
SC 70/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against sentence – applicant sentenced to preventive detention in 1995 – unsuccessful appeal to Court of Appeal in 1995 – sought rehearing of appeal in 2005 – Court of Appeal dismissed appeal on rehearing – whether Court of Appeal erred in not considering whether New Zealand regime of preventive detention is in breach of the New Zealand Bill of Rights Act 1990 and/or the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights – whether Court of Appeal erred in not granting a declaration (R v Hansen (2007) 23 CRNZ 104) – jurisdiction in criminal case to grant declaration of inconsistency with NZBORA and/or ICCPR – whether preventive detention breaches ss 9, 22, 23 and 25 of NZBORA and/or arts 7, 9, 10, 14 and 15 of ICCPR – whether treatment of applicant by New Zealand Courts has breached his rights under ss 25(a), 24(a), 19, and/or 22 of NZBORA – whether applicant was lawfully committed to the High Court for sentence – whether Court of Appeal erred in not substituting a finite sentence.[2007] NZCA 394 CA 110/05 7 September 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 11 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Not publicly available
Judgment appealed from
Case name
E v The Queen
Case number
SC 71/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against sentence
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed.
11 December 2007
11 December 2007
Case name
W v The Queen
Case number
SC 74/2007
Summary
Criminal – appeal against convictions for historical sexual offending – whether the admission of evidence in rebuttal to a recent complaint allegation, which evidence the Court of Appeal held to be inadmissible, created a miscarriage of justice. [2007] NZCA 408 CA 164/07 11 September 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed .
5 December 2007
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Wayne Darren McGregor v The Queen
Case number
SC 76/2007
Summary
Criminal appeal – Sentencing Act 2002 – sentencing bands for grievous bodily harm – whether sentence imposed is manifestly excessive and wrong in principle – whether R v Taueki [2005] 3 NZLR 372 is correctly decided – in particular, whether it is correct to focus on the presence of identified aggravating features – whether Taueki has improperly led to a rise in sentencing levels over the bottom half of the range of sentences imposed for grievous bodily harm.[2007] NZCA 435 CA 320/07 10 October 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 28 February 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
MCGREGOR v R SC 76/2007 [28 February 2008] (PDF, 15 KB)
Judgment appealed from
Case name
Carey Dean Turner v The Queen
Case number
SC 77/2007
Summary
Criminal Appeal – sexual violation – whether evidence given by the complainant was incorrectly admitted – whether the evidence was recent complaint evidence – whether the trial Judge should have given a direction to the jury about recent complaint evidence – whether the trial judge erred by giving incorrect directions to the jury about the status of a video statement made out of Court by the accused - whether this direction by the trial judge undermined the tripartite direction given about the way the jury ought to consider evidence given by the accused at trial – whether the Court of Appeal erred by dismissing the appellants appeal to that Court.[2007] NZCA 437 CA 181/07 1 October 2007
Result
Application for leave to appeal dismissed. 5 March 2008
Leave judgment - leave dismissed
TURNER v R SC 77/2007 [5 March 2008] (PDF, 22 KB)
Judgment appealed from
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