Northland faces unsustainable court delays as homicide cases surge
By Shannon Pitman, multimedia journalist, Whangārei of
Whangarei High and District Court.
Photo:
RNZ / Nate McKinnon
There's a well-known saying that justice delayed is justice denied.
And in Northland, where the region is facing a growing number of homicides, the wheels of justice are getting increasingly slow.
With trials now being set down for as far out as October 2027, the battle for limited resources and judicial time in the High Court at Whangārei is no longer just inconvenient - it is unsustainable.
And, it's not a new problem.
"I find this date to be unacceptably distant," Justice Timothy Brewer declared two years ago when the earliest available date for a murder trial was in 2026.
"A trial of charges such as these should not be scheduled for trial further out than 12 to 15 months," he said at that hearing in 2024 before directing the court to find something earlier.
Unfortunately, not a lot has changed since then.
As cases pile up the question is no longer if something must change - but when, and at what cost.
Defendants are spending long periods of time, often in custody, waiting for their cases to get to trial, while victims and their families struggle to move forward while the case is still before the court.
Both sides are facing the reality of waiting years for justice to catch up in Northland.
And, it's unlikely to get any better unless resourcing improves because the kinds of serious crimes that end up in the High Court have got worse this year.
Northland recorded eight homicides last year, but the region has already exceeded that number, with nine homicides in the first six months of this year alone.
According to data released by police under the Official Information Act, Northland had recorded the highest number of homicides up until 1 May, with Waikato next behind the region on five.
Auckland had only two people charged with homicides for the same period, while Counties Manukau had three.
In Northland, arrests have been made in all of the homicides - but that means there's nine new cases - and potential trials - that need to be worked into the High Court schedule.
Several have already been locked in for 2027.
Part of the problem is the fact Northland has just one courtroom - Courtroom Five at the Whangārei District Court - that is designated for High Court matters.
But, there's no dedicated High Court judge and they are instead brought in from Auckland as required.
So far in 2025, the High Court at Whangārei has had two murder trials scheduled, both relating to homicides that occurred in 2023, but neither ended up needing the full amount of time that was allocated.
In the case of the Manuel brothers, scheduled for the first week of February, Samson Manuel pleaded guilty to the murder of Shayden Perkinson, on the morning their three-week trial was due to start, while his brother Bronson pleaded to a lesser charge.
The High Court then remained largely empty for four weeks until the next trial commenced in March, involving Denise and Quinntinn Davis and their nephew Joshua Tana, who are all accused of murdering Euan Mackey in March 2024.
They initially had a trial date allocated for April 2026, however, Justice Timothy Brewer directed the court to find an earlier date, saying the delay was unacceptable.
Their trial was then brought forward and began on 15 March but was aborted in its second week.
A new trial for Denise Davis, Quinntinn Davis and Tana has now been scheduled for April 2027, leaving defendants in custody and victims facing the prolonged wait to testify again.
In total, the case could take three years and one month to reach trial.
A trial falling over doesn't mean other matters scheduled for later on can always easily come forward.
Justice Simon Moore, who retired from the High Court in 2024, told NZME one of his roles had been rostering judges and that was done 12 months in advance.
Justice Moore said Whangārei sits on the Auckland circuit, meaning it relies on judges from Auckland..
When trials "fall over", the schedule can be left with holes that are only able to be filled by shorter hearings.
"How do you fill a hole like that? You can't suddenly say to the parties 'we have got a judge here, got a court here, you need to come and we will start this four-week trial tomorrow'. The logistics of doing that are incredibly difficult."
Justice Moore believes regional courthouses have not kept up with population growth and the complex nature of homicide cases was putting pressure on time constraints.
"These regional courts are set up to deal with populations of the '50s and '60s where it just wasn't an issue. You could run a single court like that perfectly efficiently and it wasn't a problem.
He said a standard homicide is usually three to four weeks long, with difficult and more complex cases running much longer than that.
"You have a trial like that locked into Whangārei High Court and it pleads out, you are scurrying around looking for a stocking filler," Justice Moore said.
"It's not the sort of problem we have in Auckland, Hamilton or Tauranga because we're able to draw people in. Whangārei is a bit more difficult."
Justice Moore said work was being done to give trials in Northland a firm trial date as well as an earlier back-up trial date to fill in should something fall over.
"But the average trial is four weeks long and you just can't stack them up, the High Court is just a different beast to manage."
One option being offered for Northland-based trials is a relocation to Auckland. However, defence lawyer Sumudu Thode said a change of location is unfair to all, with legal aid ultimately footing the bill.
"We've got no other remedy than waiting for two years. It's not fair to put all of them to that inconvenience. They're also not being tried by members of their community, they're being tried by members of an Auckland community," Thode said.
Thode raised another concern.
In one of her cases, Thode's client - facing his third strike warning - was charged with a firearms offence, which, due to legal requirements of the three-strikes law, must be heard in the High Court.
He was in custody for two years awaiting a jury trial, which resulted in a hung verdict.
He then was placed back into custody and granted bail after two years and 10 months and it was another six months until his retrial got off the ground.
"These are non life-imprisonment offences. This is not a Covid issue, this is not because there has been a ton of murders, these are issues that have been happening for a while," Thode said.
Thode said in her experience, when earlier dates are offered, all parties generally prioritise High Court cases to ensure they can go ahead.
"The victims, the whānau, they want these to continue, police officers are generally available or make themselves available."
A sexual violence victim who had to give evidence in the High Court at Whangārei for a second time after the defendant was granted a retrial told NZME the long wait sent her life into turmoil.
The case began its court journey in 2019, and she said, after testifying in 2022, she felt relieved to finally share her story.
But when the defendant appealed his conviction and a retrial was granted three years later, everything unravelled.
"No one told me this could happen and it was a huge shock. I had a full breakdown."
To prepare to give evidence for the second time in three years, she had to pause therapy, ensuring painful memories remained intact for court.
She said an earlier retrial date could have made things easier but instead they were told there were no gaps in the calendar for another two years.
"If it had happened sooner, I could have moved on. Instead, it affected my family, my job, and my mental health."
Adding to her stress was the knowledge that her perpetrator was out on bail, while the court case - now stretching into its sixth year - drags on.
"It's not just victims or witnesses who feel the anxiety - it's their families, workplaces, and livelihoods. I wouldn't wish it on anyone," she said.
A spokesperson for the office of the Chief Justice said Whangārei's reliance on a single courtroom was impacting the ability to schedule trials promptly.
The spokesperson said Chief Justice Helen Winkelmann has raised the delays in Whangārei with the Minister of Justice on previous occasions and briefed the Attorney-General Dame Judith Collins back in 2019.
In the brief, Chief Justice Winkelmann specifically noted Whangārei and Rotorua were facing wait times nearly 12 months longer than those in main centres, solely because of the lack of courtroom availability.
Chief High Court Justice Sally Fitzgerald also said in a statement issued to NZME that the wait times are problematic.
"It is concerning that people in Northland are sometimes waiting considerably longer than court participants in other areas to have these serious matters resolved in court.
"We know that court delays are very difficult for the people concerned - for the victims and their families, for the defendant and their families," Fitzgerald said.
The office of the Chief Justice said when the previous murder trials were resolved in Whangārei earlier this year, the court was utilised.
"During the remaining available weeks, action was taken to ensure that other, shorter matters continued to be heard, and included an Associate Judge and an Auckland-based Judge sitting in Whangārei during that time," the spokesperson said.
The spokesperson said that with adequate notice, trials scheduled for 2027 may be able to be brought forward if earlier trials resolve.
Minister for Justice Paul Goldsmith told NZME that waiting years for a trial to start is far too long and announced in Budget 2025 that $246 million will be invested over four years to improve court timeliness.
"Justice delayed is justice denied. Waiting months or years for a case to be resolved only adds to the frustration and trauma for victims and, indeed, all court participants," Goldsmith says.
"This funding will support the ongoing operation of specialist courts, tribunals, the District Court, senior courts, the Coroners Court, and the legal aid system."
Homicide cases for 2025 currently before the court
Jan 29: Brooklyn Jenkins, 20, charged with the murder of his brother, Kyle Jenkins, had his trial scheduled for March 2026.
Feb 24: Aitua Puriri was charged with the manslaughter of his 3-year-old nephew, Reign Puriri in Whangārei, and had his trial set for July 2027.
Feb 27: Duwaine Johnstone was charged with the murder of mother of three, Yvonne Chapman, in Whangārei, and had a trial allocated for February 2027.
Mar 15: A man, whose name is suppressed, was charged with the murder of 62-year-old Toby Mike Adams in Whangārei, and had his trial date set for July 5, 2027.
Mar 15: A man, whose name is suppressed, was charged with the murder of Estene Rapatini in Kaikohe, and had his trial scheduled for August 2027.
Apr 12: Lewis Edmonds was charged with the murder of Archibald McKenzie in Kerikeri, and had his trial scheduled for October 2027.
May 9: A 26-year-old, whose name is suppressed, was charged with the murder of Geoffrey Ware in Parakāo and had his trial scheduled for early July 2027.
May 21: Drummond Leaf was charged with the murder of 3-year-old Catalya Remana Tangimetua Pepene and has a trial date scheduled for February 2027.
May 21: A man whose name is suppressed has appeared in court charged with the murder of Daniel Hepehi in Horeke.
- This story originally appeared in the
New Zealand Herald
.
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