R v Meno
| Jurisdiction | New Zealand |
| Judge | Wylie J |
| Judgment Date | 16 May 2022 |
| Neutral Citation | [2022] NZHC 1062 |
| Docket Number | CRI-2022-404-000092 |
| Court | High Court |
| Year | 2022 |
[2022] NZHC 1062
Wylie J
CRI-2022-404-000092
IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND
AUCKLAND REGISTRY
I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA
TĀMAKI MAKAURAU ROHE
Criminal Sentence — appeal against sentence by the Crown on the basis it was manifestly inadequate — violent offending against former partner — principles for a Solicitor's General sentence appeal — Crimes Act 1961 — Family Violence Act 2018
F Faull for Appellant
M Hamlin and O Skelton for Respondent
This judgment was delivered by Justice Wylie On 16 May 2022 at 12.00 midday
Registrar/Deputy Registrar
Date:
The respondent, Al Meno, pleaded guilty to two charges of assault with intent to injure, 1 three charges of male assaults female, 2 two charges of intimidation 3 and a single charge of breach of a protection order. 4 He was sentenced in the Manukau District Court on 9 February 2022 by Judge P Recordon to eight months' home detention. 5
The Crown appeals the sentence. It says that the Judge erred in principle and that the resulting sentence was manifestly inadequate. In particular, it says that four errors were made by the Judge. It says that he:
-
(a) failed to impose an uplift for Mr Meno's relevant previous convictions;
-
(b) allowed excessive discounts for Mr Meno's personal mitigating factors;
-
(c) allowed a discount from the notional end sentence of imprisonment for time that Mr Meno had spent in custody on remand as well as time Mr Meno had spent on electronically monitored (EM) bail; and
-
(d) erred in exercising his discretion to commute the sentence to one of home detention.
Mr Meno opposes the appeal.
The victim of the offending was Mr Meno's ex-partner. She and Mr Meno met and entered into a relationship in or about August 2019. The offending commenced shortly thereafter and continued through until December 2020.
Soon after their relationship began, Mr Meno persuaded the victim to cease using contraception. She soon became pregnant. While Mr Meno was initially supportive of the pregnancy, his attitude soon changed. In September/October 2019, when Mr Meno and the victim were in Mr Meno's car, Mr Meno threatened the victim and told her that she should get an abortion. He said that he would take the baby away from her and that he had the money and resources to do so. When the victim refused, Mr Meno threatened to prevent her from having the baby and stated that he could hit her hard enough in the stomach to make her miscarry. The victim asked Mr Meno to drop her home, crying out of fear as he did so. As a result of Mr Meno's threats, the victim feared for her safety and that of her unborn child. The next morning she arranged an abortion and this proceeded some three weeks later.
On 22 June 2020, Mr Meno and the victim became embroiled in an argument. She packed her belongings and tried to leave, telling Mr Meno that she did not want to be in a relationship with him anymore. He became aggressive. He hit her across the head with his wallet. Each time she tried to leave, he pulled her back and pushed her onto a bed. At one point he held her up against a wall. When she again attempted to leave, he placed himself between her and the door, grabbed her right arm and bit it, causing the victim's arm to feel “tingly” and numb and resulting in a large bruise with visible bite marks.
On 24 July 2020, Mr Meno and the victim got into another argument. He was on bail at the time for the offending the subject of charge 2 and he was subject to various conditions including that he not associate with the victim or offer violence to her. Mr Meno was nevertheless with the victim. She attempted to gather her belongings and leave. Mr Meno stood in front of the door to block her from doing so. He grabbed her arms and pulled her away from the door. She continued trying to leave; he repeatedly pulled her back from the door and forced her onto a bed. At one point, he held her up against the door. The victim said that Mr Meno used force that hurt her on a “10 out of 10” scale and that he gripped her roughly and painfully. Because she was unable to leave, she sat down at a table to have a cigarette. He walked up to her and attempted to hit her in the face. She raised her arm to block his blow and suffered a bruise as a consequence. As a result of this offending, she suffered multiple bruising to both of her arms.
By November 2020 Mr Meno and the victim had separated. She was trying to move on from the relationship but he continued to contact her. On 1 November 2020 (while he was still on bail for the offending the subject of charge 2) Mr Meno waited outside the victim's parents' house. She was being dropped home by a friend. She saw Mr Meno and asked her friend to continue driving. She waited some two hours before returning home. Soon after she got home, Mr Meno drove past the house and saw that she was there. He called her and angrily demanded that she come outside. She agreed to meet him at his house so as not to disturb her parents. When she arrived at Mr Meno's house, he screamed at her and repeatedly called her a “slut” and a “whore”. While she was standing by the front door, he charged at her. She picked up a bowl of coins from a bench and threw them at him. She attempted to escape through another door. He grabbed her by her arm and pushed her to the ground. He then dragged her along the floor into a bedroom. He kicked her while she was on the ground. As a result, she suffered deep bruising to her right arm. She eventually managed to escape from the house but only after Mr Meno had threatened her, saying that he would send somebody to “fuck her up” or rape her at her work. As a result, the victim did not return to her work out of fear for her safety.
By December 2020, Mr Meno and the victim had reconciled. On the morning of 4 December 2020 (whilst Mr Meno was still on bail for the charge 2 offending) the victim confronted him about calls on his phone from another woman. Mr Meno began screaming at the victim. He grabbed her by her neck and pushed her up against a wall with one hand, lifting her off the ground and squeezing her throat. She struggled to get free. He then threatened to murder her and verbally abused her. She was eventually able to escape.
Between 10 April and 3 May 2021 (whilst still on bail for the charge 2 offending) Mr Meno repeatedly contacted the victim by sending texts to her and by calling her.
On 3 May 2021, at about 8 pm, Mr Meno pulled up behind the victim as they were both driving. He began following her closely, honking his horn. He repeatedly called her on her cellphone. When she answered, he told her to pull over saying that if she did not do so, he would crash into her. She turned into a road with four lanes on each side. He pulled up in the lane beside her and then swerved into her lane. She in turn swerved into the left-hand lane to avoid a collision, forcing the cars in that lane to stop. Mr Meno continued to follow her and swerved into an inside lane on two further occasions. He only stopped following her when it became clear to him that she had called the police.
On 28 May 2021, a temporary protection order was issued in the Manukau Family Court in favour of the victim. A copy of that order was served on Mr Meno on 23 July 2021.
On the evening of 13 August 2021 (whilst Mr Meno was on EM bail in relation to the offending the subject of charges 2 to 6) the victim arrived at Mr Meno's bail address to discuss their relationship. Sometime thereafter, she told Mr Meno that she wanted to leave and go home. He declared his love for her and begged her not to leave. She had a panic attack but was able to leave some hours later. Mr Meno then began contacting her via text message, Instagram and Facebook Messenger. She responded telling Mr Meno to stop messaging her. However, he continued to do so, sending over 400 unanswered messages to the victim via various messaging platforms. When she attempted to block his messages, he created new accounts in attempts to continue contacting her.
On 5 October 2021 (while on EM bail in relation to the offending the subject of charges 2 to 7) Mr Meno messaged the victim and convinced her to come to his bail address. She arrived at the property to discuss their relationship. During the course of the evening he told her that a friend of his was going to come over to meet her. She told him that she was not comfortable meeting his friend and that she wanted to leave. He became upset and they began to argue. He became increasingly angry; he grabbed her by the upper body and head butted her in the face with his forehead, causing her lower lip to swell and bruise. She attempted to call for an Uber so that she could leave. However, he snatched the phone out of her hand and placed it out of her reach. He then said that he was going to commit suicide and begged her not to leave. As a result, she had another panic attack. Later that night, Mr Meno accessed the victim's mobile phone and deleted her messages. He returned the phone to her early the next morning. She immediately contacted a friend who came to pick her up.
Mr Meno was initially arrested in relation to the offending the subject of charge 2 and he made a first appearance in the District Court on 29 June 2020. He was remanded on bail with, inter alia, conditions that he not associate with the victim or threaten or use violence against her. A stand-by trial was allocated but in the event...
To continue reading
Request your trial