district court logo

New Zealand Police v QJ [2016] NZYC 625

Published 07 August 2018

Admissibility of interview evidence — withdrawal of consent — role of nominated person — explanation of rights — Children, Young Persons, and Their Families Act 1989, ss 208, 215 & 221–226 — Campbell v R [2015] NZCA 452. The young person faced charges of aggravated robbery and unlawfully taking a motor vehicle, and the New Zealand Police applied to have an interview recorded on DVD admitted as evidence. A number of grounds were raised by defence in opposition to the application. Of those grounds, it was determined that a delay of four hours between arrest and commencement of the DVD interview was not undue as around half of the delay was the result of transporting the young person's nominated person to the police station. However, the DVD interview was ruled inadmissible due to a combination of other factors: informing the young person of her rights; withdrawal of consent during the interview; and the nominated person not fulfilling her duty under the Act in light of case law including "Campbell". Judgment Date: 25 October 2016. * * * Note: Names have been changed to comply with legal requirements * * *

Tags