Paper Code: LAWS301-15Y (HAM)

2015 B SEMESTER EXAMINATIONS

DEPARTMENT Te Piringa - Faculty of Law

PAPER TITLE Crimes

TIME ALLOWED Three hours

NUMBER OF QUESTIONS Seven

IN PAPER

NUMBER OF QUESTIONS FOUR

TO BE ANSWERED

VALUE OF EACH QUESTION All questions are of equal value. Individual marks
are indicated where appropriate.

GENERAL INSTRUCTIONS This is a CLOSED book examination.

SECTION A is COMPULSORY-
Answer EITHER Part A OR Part B.

Answer ONE question from each of:

SECTIONS B, C and D

SPECIAL INSTRUCTIONS Relevant statutory provisions are attached.

CALCULATORS PERMITTED No electronic devices are allowed

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SECTION A
QUESTION ONE COMPULSORY
(Answer EITHER Part A OR Part B)

PART A

The alarmingly high rates of Mori representation in the criminal justice system of New
Zealand are well known statistics. Mori for example, are more likely to:

have police contact

be charged
lack legal representation
not be granted bail
plead guilty
be convicted
be sentenced to non-monetary penalties; and
be denied release to home detention.

Over-Representation of Mori in the Criminal Justice System: An Exploratory Report (Police

Strategy and Research Group, Department of Corrections, September, 2007).

You are to write an essay which addresses the following:

1. What are some of the main causes for Mori over-representation in the New
Zealand criminal justice system today?

2. Discuss two initiatives that have been developed to address Mori over-
representation in the criminal justice system; and

3. What, if any, are the credible advantages and disadvantages for establishing a
parallel Mori legal system for effectively addressing Mori criminal justice in
New Zealand?

[25 marks]
OR

PART B
The prevalence of alcohol in the lives of the teenagers interviewed, male and female,
was a concern to the Op Clover team. There was regular mention of parties in which
hard liquor was consumed by teenagers as young as 13. The level of inebriation
described during informal disclosures, including being comatose, was shocking to
hear.
Clover Investigation Overview (Report on Roastbusters Investigation, 2014)

With reference to materials covered in the Crimes course, discuss the relevance of this quote
to the question of consent in sexual offences. Include in your answer some of the legislative
reform that has taken place in recent years. What, in your view, other reforms are necessary in
this context?
[25 marks]

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Paper Code: LAWS301-15Y (HAM)

SECTION B
(Answer ONE question from this section)

QUESTION TWO

Sarah Smith is an elderly woman who has mobility problems and who lives next door to
Petra, a university student living on the minimal student loan living allowance.

Sarah asks Petra if she could go down to the supermarket for her and get a few groceries.
Petra goes over to Sarahs house and Sarah gives her a list of groceries and begins to look for
her purse. She says she must have left it upstairs in her bedroom and asks Petra if she would
mind going up to get the purse.

While Petra was upstairs in Sarahs room she notices a jewellery box that was open on the
dresser. Her eye lands on a beautiful emerald and diamond ring which she tries on and puts in
her pocket. When she goes downstairs, Sarah gives her two $50 notes from the purse. Petra
thinks that this is strange as the groceries would not cost more than $15-20, but she says
nothing and takes the money.

As Petra leaves the house she sees Sarahs grandsons bicycle against the garage and she
takes this to go to the shops (without asking Sarah).

On the way Petra stops at JB HiFi to look at the DVDs as her boyfriend Nathans birthday is
coming up and he really loves the Back to the Future movies with a passion. She finds the
ultimate gift for him the Back to the Future Trilogy Limited Edition Collectors Tin but it is
priced at $220. Petra really wants to get the collection for Nathan, so she peels a price ticket
off another DVD priced at $39.99 and switches the price stickers. She takes it to the counter
and pays for it with the money Sarah gave her. Petra then goes to the supermarket and gets the
groceries, which cost $18.50.

Petra goes back to Sarahs place returns the bike and gives her the groceries and the $51.50
change. Sarah thanks her and gives her a $20 note as a thank you.

Petra gives the ring to her sister Tara who owns a second-hand jewellery store and who gives
her $100 for it even though Tara knows it worth well more than $8000. Petra says to Tara, if
anyone asks, it wasnt me who sold it to you. Tara replies, I dont even want to know where
you got this. Sarah gives the DVD to Nathan for his birthday who is so excited he sits down
for a marathon session that night. As it happened Petra was recorded on CCTV at JB Hi Fi
swapping the price labels so the police arrest Petra and she tells them the whole story.

You are doing a summer internship with the Police Prosecution Service and they have asked
you for a summary report coving Petras liability if any, for theft (s223) of the following:
The ring
The bike
The DVD
Sarahs money (the $39.99 price of the DVD) and the $20 given in appreciation.
Also advise of any possible liability for Tara and Nathan in terms of receiving under s246.

[25 marks]
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QUESTION THREE

Dave suffers from a metabolic disease which sometimes causes seizures during which he is
not aware of his actions and sometimes physically attacks other people. Dave has been
convicted of aggravated assault twice within the last three years.

Dave's doctor has repeatedly instructed him to avoid alcoholic beverages because of a
connection between increased occurrence of these seizures and consumption of alcohol. The
assaults that led to Dave's convictions occurred after Dave had consumed alcohol.

Aroha visited Dave at his flat. Dave gave Aroha a beer and poured one for himself. In an
hour, Dave consumed four bottles of beer. An argument with Aroha ensued. When Dave
became irritated and his speech slurred, Aroha decided he was intoxicated and she left the
flat. Dave grabbed a fireplace poker, followed Aroha into the hall, and struck her on the head
from behind. He then returned to his flat.

Dave's first recollection after his argument with Aroha is looking out his window and seeing
an ambulance staff removing a motionless Aroha from the building.

Dave immediately called Anaru his lawyer. Dave told Anaru everything that he could recall
about the incident and that he thought Aroha was dead.

Aroha survived the attack, but could not positively identify Dave as her assailant.

Dave was charged with attempted murder under s 173 of the Crimes Act.

The prosecution expert testified that in his opinion it was the alcohol that had triggered the
seizure.

Dave's doctor testified that there was a relationship of Dave's seizures to consumption of
alcohol in that they triggered the seizures but the seizures themselves are caused by the
metabolic disease. She could not be certain if, in this particular situation , the alcohol had
triggered the seizure or not but agreed it was possible. However she also said that in the past
Dave had had a number of these seizures spontaneously, independent of any consumption of
alcohol.

Discuss any possible defence(s) that Dave may have to the charge. Would your answer be
any different if Dave had not consumed any alcohol but still had the seizure? Why or why
not?
[25 marks]
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Paper Code: LAWS301-15Y (HAM)

SECTION C
(Answer ONE question from this section)

QUESTION FOUR (Answer both (a) AND (b))

Ross and Emily are about to get married. Steven, Emilys father, does not like Ross and does
not want them to get married. Ross has recently been seen with his ex-girlfriend, Rachel, but
Ross assures Emily he does not love Rachel anymore and he definitely wants to marry Emily.
Despite this, Emily is still quite insecure and confides in her father about her concerns.

On the day of the wedding everything goes according to plan. Ross arrives at the altar at the
right time and Emilys father walks her down the aisle, albeit reluctantly. All goes smoothly
until it is Ross turn to say his vows, at which point he says, I Ross, take thee, Rachel.

Although Emily is appalled she continues with the ceremony and she and Ross are legally
wed. At the reception, however, Emily is nowhere to be seen. Ross begins drinking heavily
in order to try and deal with the situation. He becomes so intoxicated that when Steven
approaches him and verbally abuses him, all that Ross can do is laugh. This enrages Steven
further, who says, What the hell is wrong with you? Im going to kill you, you bastard!
before pushing Ross in the chest with both hands. Ross falls over, but soon pulls himself up
onto a chair. Still appearing to find the situation hilarious, he sits there for a few minutes
laughing. Suddenly, however, Ross clutched at his chest and collapsed back to the floor. An
ambulance was called, but Ross died en route to hospital.

A post-mortem examination revealed that Ross heart was in an advanced state of disease.
According to the pathologist, the risk of Ross having a heart attack at some time in the near
future was high. He also said that the fatal heart attack could have been caused by either the
push to the chest or the fall to the ground.

Steven is charged with culpable homicide.

a) Advise the prosecution as to Stevens liability for culpable homicide

[15 marks]

b) Assume that instead of dying en route to hospital, Ross was stabilised in the
ambulance. He spent several days in the cardiac ward and was being transferred to a
general ward when a mechanism on his stretcher broke and Ross fell to the floor. He
suffered another heart attack and died. Would this affect the outcome you arrived at in
(a) above and why or why not?

[10 marks]
(25 marks)

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QUESTION FIVE

Kelvin and Nadine have been married for 17 years. According to Nadine, she has suffered
numerous assaults (verbal, physical and sexual) from Kelvin for all of those years. Kelvin
drinks heavily and has a gambling addiction. When he loses money, his drinking and
aggression become worse. Kelvin and Nadine have three adult children who have witnessed
many of the assaults and heard Kelvin threaten to kill Nadine.

Nadine takes Kelvins threats to kill her seriously as she is aware that Kelvins father killed
Kelvins mother when Kelvin was quite young, following several years of abuse and threats
to kill. Nadine believes that Kelvins father has passed this violent legacy on to Kelvin.
Furthermore, in recent months Kelvins violent assaults have increased in intensity and
Nadine has ended up in hospital on more than one occasion. Notwithstanding this, Nadine
still loves Kelvin and hopes that he might break the chain of abuse and change his ways.

Nadine has no support outside of the family as Kelvin has always deliberately isolated her.
Even her own children have become frustrated by Nadines failure to leave Kelvin or to seek
help and tend to avoid visiting. The couple lives in a remote area and Nadine does not drive.
When they go to town for groceries Kelvin is always present and Nadine knows that he is on
friendly terms with the local police officers.

One day Kelvin assaults Nadine so badly that she can hardly move. At the time he tells her he
is going to kill her. The next day he says nothing about the incident and leaves the house to go
into town. When he arrives home, Nadine has cooked his tea but it has dried out in the oven.
Unusually, Kelvin does not abuse Nadine for this. Instead he does not say much at all and
although Nadine believes he had been at the pub, he does not appear intoxicated. After he has
finished his meal he retrieves his rifle from its locked cabinet and starts to clean it. He does
not say a word but he fixes Nadine with a stare as she gingerly moves about the kitchen.
Nadine later described his stare as intense and scary. Nadine is terrified that something
awful is going to happen. She has not known Kelvin to be so quiet although he has on
occasions lashed out at her suddenly for no apparent reason.

After a while Nadine notices that Kelvin has fallen asleep in his chair. She seizes the
opportunity to grab the gun and shoots him twice in the chest. Kelvin dies almost
immediately.

Nadine has been charged with murder. Advise Nadine as to whether a claim of self-defense is
likely to succeed.

[25 marks]

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SECTION D
Answer ONE question from this section

QUESTION SIX (Answer both (a) AND (b))

a) Sharon joins a white supremacist group living in Oamaru, the Aryan Guard. She
discovers that they intend to carry out a terrorist attack against the enemy, the local
Police Station but she does not know what the nature of the attack will be. She is
asked to go with the leader of the group, Snowy, for a trip in his van. He gives her a
brief case and drops her off, saying wait for my call. She realises she is standing
outside the police station. The phone rings and she hears Snowy say The Case
contains a bomb. If you dont take it inside the police station, and put it on the floor of
the charge office, and leave quickly, I am going to blow you and it up remotely by
mobile phone signal. She enters the building, leaves the case as directed, but although
the bomb is activated by Snowy using his mobile phone the bomb fails to explode
because of a poor connection with the battery pack.

Sharon is apprehended and charged with terrorist bombing under s 7 of the Terrorism
Suppression Act 2002 for intentionally delivering the bomb to the police station. She
wants to plead compulsion or necessity as a defence to this charge. Advise Sharon as
to the availability of these defences.

Section 7 of the Terrorism Suppression Act 2002 reads:

7 Terrorist bombing
(1) A person commits an offence who, intentionally and without lawful justification
or excuse, delivers, places, discharges, or detonates an explosive or other lethal
device in, into, or against a relevant place, facility, or system, with the intent to
cause
(a) death or serious bodily injury; or
(b) extensive destruction
(i) of the relevant place, facility, or system; and
(ii) that results, or is likely to result, in major economic loss.
(2) In subsection (1), relevant place, facility, or system means
(a) a place of public use:
(b) a State or government facility:
(c) a public transportation system:
(d) an infrastructure facility.
(3) .

[15 marks]

b) Romeo has unfortunately contacted a sexually transmitted disease, genital herpes. He

woos Juliet and, convinced of his love for her, she agrees to have sexual intercourse
with him. Romeo does not inform Juliet of his infection. They engage in sexual
intercourse and unfortunately for her she contracts genital herpes from Romeo. Juliet
lays a charge of injuring with intent to injure under s 189(2) of the Crimes Act against
Romeo. Advise the prosecutor on whether Romeo has any basis for a defence of Juliet
having consented to be injured?
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189 Injuring with intent

(2) Every one is liable to imprisonment for a term not exceeding 5 years who, with
intent to injure any one, or with reckless disregard for the safety of others, injures any
person.

[10 marks]
[25 marks]

QUESTION SEVEN (Answer both (a) AND (b))

(a) Roland is found by police skulking in the bushes outside the back door of his former
partner Suzys flat at 11pm. In a statement to the police Roland reveals that he knows
that Suzy walks home every night from her job at the local burger bar at 11.30 pm
because he has been watching her surreptitiously from his car. He also states that he
believed that when he confronted her she would consent to have sex with him. Suzy
makes a statement that they had broken off their relationship five years before and that
she had made it absolutely clear that she had no desire to have anything to do with him
again. Suzy reveals however that Roland does not have a violent character and that it
is likely that once she refused he would have given up.

The prosecutor seeks your advice as to whether to pursue charges of attempted sexual
violation under section 129(1) of the Crimes Act against Roland. Give your advice.

129 Attempted sexual violation and assault with intent to commit sexual violation
(1) Every one who attempts to commit sexual violation is liable to imprisonment for a
term not exceeding 10 years.
[15 marks]

(b) Chris is the operator of an outdoor laser-light show. The main feature of the show is a
large laser which he points vertically into the air to light up clouds at night. He is
asked to present his show at a large rock concert to be held in the car-park of the
University of Mooloo. Chris is told by Rob, the Universitys lawyer, that use of the
laser at the concert will be entirely legal so long as it is not directed into nearby
residential houses thus causing a nuisance. On the evening of the concert the wind is
blowing from an unusual direction and the flight path of aeroplanes landing at Mooloo
airport is directly over the University. Chriss laser lights up cockpit of an Air New
Zealand plane in its final approach to landing, completely blinding the pilot and
forcing him to abort the landing. Chris is horrified, and immediately turns off the
laser, but the police arrive and arrest him. They charge Chris with a violation of s44
of the Civil Aviation Act 1990.

Advise Chris as to the state of mind the prosecution must prove (if any) and any
Defences he might have available to him.

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Paper Code: LAWS301-15Y (HAM)

S44 Dangerous activity involving aircraft, aeronautical product, or aviation

related service
(1) Every person commits an offence who
(a) ; or
(b) does any other act in respect of
any aircraft, aeronautical product, or aviation related service, in a
manner which causes unnecessary danger to any other person or to
any property.

(2)
(3) Every person who commits an offence against subsection (1) of this
section is liable,
(a) in the case of an individual, to imprisonment for a term not exceeding
12 months or a fine not exceeding $10,000; or
(b) .
(4) .

[10 marks]
[25 marks]