Case Laws All

Question 1

R v White

Answer 1

Where you can prove that a suspect conspired with other parties (one or more people) whose identities are unknown, that suspect can still be convicted even if the identity of the other parties is never established and remains unknown.

Question 2

Higgins v Police

Answer 2

Where plants being cultivated as cannabis are not in fact cannabis it is physically, not legally, impossible to cultivate such prohibited plants. Accordingly, it is possible to commit the offence of attempting to cultivate cannabis.

Question 3

R v Pene

Intentionally help

Answer 3

A party must intentionally help or encourage - it is insufficient if they were reckless as to whether the principal was assisted or encouraged.

Question 4

R v Sanders

Answer 4

“A conspiracy does not end with the making of the agreement. The conspiratorial agreement continues in operation and therefore in existence until it is ended by completion of its performance or abandonment or in any other manner by which agreements are discharged”.

Question 5

Police v Jay

Answer 5

A man bought hedge clippings believing they were cannabis.

Question 6

R v Ring

Answer 6

In this case the offender’s intent was to steal property by putting his hand into the pocket of the victim. Unbeknown to the offender the pocket was empty. Despite this he was able to be convicted of attempted theft, because the intent to steal whatever property might have been discovered inside the pocket was present in his mind and demonstrated by his actions. The remaining elements were also satisfied.

Question 7

Mulcahy v R

Answer 7

“A conspiracy consists not merely in the intention of two or more, but in the agreement of two or more to do an unlawful act, or to do a lawful act by unlawful means. So long as such a design rests in intention only it is not indictable. When two agree to carry it (the intended offence) into effect, the very plot is an act in itself

Question 8

R v Renata

Principal offender

Answer 8

The court held that where the principal offender cannot be identified, it is sufficient to prove that each individual accused must have been either the principal or a party in one of the ways contemplated by s66(1).

Question 9

R v Donnelly

Answer 9

Where stolen property has been returned to the owner or legal title to any such property has been acquired by any person, it is not an offence to subsequently receive it, even though the receiver may know that the property had previously been stolen or dishonestly obtained.

Question 10

R v Harpur

Answer 10

The Court may have regard to the conduct viewed cumulatively up to the point when the conduct in question stops … the defendant’s conduct may be considered in its entirety. Considering how much remains to be done … is always relevant, though not determinative.”

Question 11

Larkins v Police

Actual proof of assistance

Answer 11

While it is unnecessary that the principal should be aware that he or she is being assisted, there must be proof of actual assistance.

Question 12

R v Russell

Special Relationship

Answer 12

The court held that the accused was morally bound to take active steps to save his children, but by his deliberate abstention from so doing, and by giving the encouragement and authority of his presence and approval to his wife’s act he became an aider and abettor and thus a secondary offender.

Question 13

Ashton v Police

Legal Duty

Answer 13

An example of a secondary party owing a legal duty to a third person or to the general public is a person teaching another person to drive. That person is, in New Zealand, under a legal duty to take reasonable precautions, because under s156 of the Crimes Act 1961 he is deemed to be in charge of a dangerous thing.

Question 14

R v Briggs

Wilful blindness

Answer 14

As with a receiving charge under s246(1), knowledge may also be inferred from wilful blindness or a deliberate abstention from making inquiries that would confirm the suspected truth.

Question 15

R v Crooks

Knowing any person to have been a party to an offence

Answer 15

Knowledge means actual knowledge or belief in the sense of having no real doubt that the person assisted was a party to the relevant offence. Mere suspicion of their involvement in the offence is insufficient.

Question 16

R v Betts and Ridley

No violence is contemplated

Answer 16

An offence where no violence is contemplated and the principal offender in carrying out the common aim uses violence, a secondary offender taking no physical part in it would not be held liable for the violence used.

Question 17

R v Lucinsky

Answer 17

The property received must be the property stolen or illegally obtained (or part thereof), and not some other item for which the illegally obtained property had been exchanged or which are the proceeds.

Question 18

R v Levy - What was it about?

Actively suppressing evidence

Answer 18

Levy was convicted of being an accessory after the fact to counterfeiting currency. Levy had removed equipment after it had been used by the offender in the counterfeiting process and after the offender’s arrest and the recovery of moulds used in the counterfeiting.
It was held that Levy had done a deliberate act in relation to the evidence against the offender for the purpose of assisting that offender to evade justice.

Question 19

R v Harney

Recklessness

Answer 19

“Recklessness means the conscious and deliberate taking of an unjustified risk. In New Zealand it involves proof that the consequence complained of could well happen, together with an intention to continue the course of conduct regardless of risk

Question 20

R v Mane

Answer 20

To be considered an accessory the acts done by the person must be after the completion of the offence.

Question 21

R v Cox

Possession

Answer 21

Possession involves two elements. The first, the physical element, is actual or potential physical custody or control. The second, the mental element, is a combination of knowledge and intention: knowledge in the sense of an awareness by the accused that the substance is in his possession and an intention to exercise possession.

Question 22

R v Gibbs - What was it about?

To evade justice

Answer 22

Gibbs was convicted as an accessory after the fact to an escape made by a convicted murderer. Gibbs and the escapee were together at a hiding place before Gibbs left to uplift supplies, before returning with them for their joint use. The Court determined that the escapee was being helped by Gibbs due to Gibbs supplying provisions, despite an argument that they were for Gibbs’ own benefit.
Gibbs highlights the act or acts done by the accessory must have helped the other person in some way to evade justice.

Question 23

Cullen v R

Possession for receiving

Answer 23

There are four elements of possession for receiving:

(a) awareness that the item is where it is;
(b) awareness that the item has been stolen;
(c) actual or potential control of the item; and
(d) an intention to exercise that control over the item.

Question 24

R v Kennedy

Answer 24

The guilty knowledge that the thing has been stolen or dishonestly obtained must exist at the time of receiving.