Criminal attorney Auckland barrister lawyer Waitakere Manukau

Previous war stories and successful cases

Being a criminal law attorney, I am often asked what can be done when the situation seems bleak.

The following situations illustrate a variety of situations where my professional help as a lawyer/attorney has made a difference.

Need to find a criminal defence lawyer? Whether its criminal domestic violence, burglary or any other criminal charge - get in touch with me today!

Jury trial - charge of rape

In essence, there are two available defences to a charge of rape:

That the complained of activity did not occur OR
That the activity occurred, but was consensual.

It will be observed that these are mutually exclusive defences.

"I did not have sex with that woman." So said my client during the course of a police video taped interview, when asked about his relationship with a woman who spent the night at my client's address. My client was adamant, no sex occurred. The complainant, in her statement to police and later at trial was equally adamant that sex had occurred and it was without her consent.

The primary problem for my client it transpired was that a sperm sample containing my client's DNA was deposited in a location utterly inconsistent with his video statement.

This video statement containing the obvious and seemingly damning lie was played to the jury at my client's trial. My job was to persuade the jury that notwithstanding that my client had lied when he made his video statement, he was telling the truth at trial when he admitted having sex with the complainant and contrary to what the complainant had to say, that the sex was consensual.

I was able to persuade the jury that my client lied because he was trying to keep the fact of his having sex with the complainant from his girlfriend. My client and his girlfriend were, at the time of the making the video statement, shortly to embark on their OE and if it became known by the girlfriend what he had been up to with the complainant, the trip would be off.

As it turned out, the jury accepted the reasons for my client's initial lie and believed him when he gave evidence of consensual sex with the complainant. The jury acquitted my client on the rape charges.

This story exemplifies the folly of telling lies to the police when interviewed. Those tempted to lie should remember that from the police perspective, the trophy is awarded for getting a statement that contains a detailed confession, but a close runner-up is for getting a statement that contains a good lie!

Sentencing - resulting in discharge without conviction

After losing the plot at a rock concert, my client found himself facing charges of Trespass, Assault, Assault on Police and Resisting Police in the Execution of Duty (x 2).

My client, an executive with a particularly staid multinational company, broadly agreed with the Police Caption Summary.

Apparently my client had jumped from a balcony into a portion of the concert for which he did not have a ticket and when warned off by a security guard, my client again gained entry to the forbidden zone (trespass) and wrestled with the security guard when removed (assault).

Police were called and were happy to forget the whole thing if my client left the concert. My client's response was to hurl himself to the floor and refuse to move, whilst loudly insisting "you're wrecking my night." When the officers arrested my client he tried to fight them off (assault on police and 2 x resisting).

My client was anxious to achieve the best possible outcome and was concerned for both his immediate future within the company and his longer term job prospects in a conservative industry if convicted of the offences with which he was charged.

Initially I was able to persuade the police to drop several of the charges in return for my client pleading guilty to one trespass and one resisting charge.

At sentencing on these two (lesser) charges, I was able to persuade the presiding Judge that my client warranted a discharge without conviction on the basis that the consequences of a conviction out-weighed the seriousness of the offending. A discharge without conviction operates at law as an acquittal, thus ensuring that my client escaped a conviction for the offending.

Whilst it was only a minor criminal matter, the importance to my client in securing no conviction for the incident can not be overstated. I was delighted to be able to assist in achieving that outcome.

Pre-trial negotiations and sentencing

Sexual Violation of Daughter & Friend of Daughter (both aged under 16).

In one of the more unusual cases I have dealt with, my client, the mother of one of the victims, was charged both as a principal and as a party in the sexual violation of two girls aged 15 years.

My client had given a detailed and lurid statement to the police, detailing a prolonged "P" fuelled episode involving an older male co-offender and the 15 year old girls.

As a consequence of my client's statement, the only possible defence to the sexual violation charges might have been the issue of consent.

After protracted negotiations with the police I was unable to persuade the police to withdraw the very serious charges faced by my client and lay instead the comparatively less serious charge of sex with a girl(s) under 16 years. Consequently, the matter proceeded through depositions to the High Court where my view as to the appropriate charge obviously resonated with the Crown Prosecutor who proceeded on the lesser charge (where consent is not a defence).

This secured a prompt guilty plea from my client.

Because my client pleaded guilty to the charge at the first opportunity and because she had undertaken extensive and ongoing counselling and had assisted in providing evidence against the co-offender, at sentencing my client was sentenced on a comparatively lenient basis to home detention.