Conspiracy II Flashcards
Definition of Offence/Crime
They may be described as any act or omission that is punishable on conviction under any enactment, and are demarcated into four categories described in s6, Criminal Procedures Act 2011.
Act and Omission Definition
Act: To take action or do something, to bring about a particular result.
Omission: the action of excluding or leaving out someone or something, a failure to fulfil a moral or legal obligation.
Withdrawing from the agreement
A person withdrawing from the agreement is still guilty of conspiracy as are those people who become party to the agreement after it has been made. However a person can effectively withdraw before the actual agreement is made.
Proving Intent
In general terms the onus is on the prosecution to prove the offender’s intent beyond a reasonable doubt.
Where possible, it is good practice to support any admissions or confessions as to an offender’s intent with circumstantial evidence from which their intent can also be inferred.
Circumstantial evidence from which an offender’s intent may be inferred can include:
- The offender’s actions and words before, during and after the event
- The surrounding circumstances
- The nature of the act itself.
Jurisdiction
Section 7, Crimes Act 1961
For the purpose of jurisdiction, where any act or omission forming part of any offence, or any event necessary to the completion of any offence, occurs in New Zealand, the offence shall be deemed to be committed in New Zealand, whether the person charged with the offence was in New Zealand or not at the time of the act, omission, or event.
Conspiracy entered into whilst overseas
A person who has entered into a conspiracy overseas is open to the jurisdiction of NZ courts, only if they are later physically present in New Zealand and they act in continuance of the conspiracy.
Conspiracy to commit an offence overseas
Under s310 of the Crimes Act 1961, it is an offence to conspire to commit an offence or to do or omit to do anything, in any part of the world that would be an offence in New Zealand. The person has a defence if they are able to prove that the act is not an offence under the law of the place where it was to be committed.
Conspiracy between parties in New Zealand and other country
The Court in R v Darwish, a drug related matter, held that where a conspiracy is made between parties in New Zealand and another country, the courts will likely take the view that the conspiracy was formed in both countries simultaneously, and given New Zealand is one of those countries in which the conspiracy falls, it would lie within the jurisdiction of the New Zealand courts.
Admissibility of evidence
The intention, of the parties involved, to actually carry out the offence is an essential element to a conspiracy charge. There must be a common aim to commit some offence and an intention that the aim is to be effected.
Anything a conspirator or party to a joint charge says or does to further the common purpose is admissible against the others involved, this being an exception to the hearsay rule and as such conspirators should be jointly charged.
