Department of Corrections v Toki

[2025] NZHC 744

IN THE HIGH COURT OF NEW ZEALAND WELLINGTON REGISTRY

I TE KŌTI MATUA O AOTEAROA TE WHANGANUI-A-TARA ROHE

CRI-2022-085-2285

CRI-2025-091-0025 [2025] NZHC 744

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS

v

JAMIELEE SONIA TOKI

Hearing:	31 March 2025
Appearances:	A J Brosnan for the Department of Corrections J M Owers for Ms Toki
Sentencing:	31 March 2025

SENTENCING NOTES OF GRAU J

[1]    Ms Toki, I have to sentence you today on two charges of breaching your home detention conditions under s 80S of the Sentencing Act 2002. Those charges have a maximum penalty of one year imprisonment or a $2,000 fine. You have reached a resolution with the Department of Corrections (Corrections) who wanted to cancel your home detention sentence and have you resentenced to a term of imprisonment. Corrections have withdrawn that application today, as well as another charge of breaching home detention, and all matters have been resolved on that basis.

[2]    I sentenced you to 12 months of home detention on 10 December 2024.1 The two home detention breaches were early on in your sentence. One of the breaches was late on Christmas Eve, early into the hours of Christmas day, where it looks as if

1      R v Toki [2024] NZHC 3783.

DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS v TOKI [2025] NZHC 744 [31 March 2025]

you had not charged the charger for the tracker that you are required to have on charge for two hours out of every 24. The other breach was before and after an approved absence to allow you to go to Kenepuru Hospital. You have popped in to see a friend on the way, and then afterwards, your monitoring has not been on until you returned home later.

[3]    In sentencing you, I have to hold you accountable for these breaches and deter you from further breaches.

[4]    I take into account what Mr Owers has said about technical issues. Corrections has a different take on that, and I can’t get to the bottom of it, but what I need to stress to you is that you are really on their radar now. You already were, but you are going to have to be very, very careful that you don’t run into difficulties. I know that things can happen with electronic monitoring, but you need to make sure that you are absolutely in the clear with where you are allowed to go, when you’re allowed to go. That is to your benefit as well, because when Corrections see that you’re doing well on your home detention conditions, it tends to open the door for more approved absences for things like shopping and recreation. It’s my experience that on a long home detention sentence, those types of permitted absences will increase as the sentence goes on. That is because – as I said to you when I sentenced you – home detention isn’t a soft option, it’s a really tough sentence to get through. But the alternative is prison, and I don’t think anyone wants that for you. For your probation officer, success looks like you complying with home detention, getting the rehab that you need, and completing your community work. That looks like success for me, too, because I sentenced you to home detention. I thought that you would be capable of rehabilitation, and I still believe that, but that’s not going to happen if these problems continue.

[5]    Having said all that, Ms Brosnan has pointed to the fact that you were inducted into this sentence, you were warned about not complying and she says that you knew very well what your obligations were in terms of approved absences and charging your tracker. But on the other hand, you have no relevant convictions for anything of this sort. You haven’t been subject to an electronically monitored sentence before and you have entered guilty pleas promptly once a resolution was agreed. To that, I might add

that the resolution you have reached with Corrections has saved the Court a lot of time that can be spent on other matters.

[6]    So the only issue for me is what should I do with you – Ms Brosnan says I should sentence you to some more community work (40 hours, which is the minimum). Mr Owers says I should sentence you to come up if called upon. The other name for that sentencing outcome is a good behaviour bond – it means that if you get on with your sentence and there are no more problems, then this is the end of it. But if there are more problems and more charges, then you can be brought to the Court and sentenced on the new charges (if they are proved or you admit them) as well as these charges, so it can make it a lot more serious.

[7]    I have thought about which is the better option, bearing in mind that I am required to impose the least restrictive outcome that is appropriate. It is my view that a sentence to come up if called upon is an incentive for you to make sure that there is no repeat of issues on home detention. As I have told you, if there are, and you are charged again, you could be back here with new charges and being sentenced again on these charges. Accordingly, I am going to sentence you to come up if called upon for a period of six months on your two charges of breach of home detention.

[8]    I am also going to make an order for judicial monitoring to be added to your home detention sentence. Under that order I will get a progress report every three months about how you are going on your sentence. I will ask for the first  report by  6 June 2025, and then the reports will come at three monthly intervals until your home detention is finished. That means I will be learning directly how you are progressing on home detention. I will be another person that you are accountable to, and if I am not happy about your progress, I can order that you be brought back before the Court again and I can look at resentencing you as well. I do not want to send you to prison, but I want to make it clear that I will if I have to.

[9]    So go home now, with your whānau. Whānau: make her accountable to you as well. I remember that I heard at your sentencing that you did have goals; rehabilitation goals, and goals about your tamariki. This is the best way you can achieve those goals.

[10]Thank you.

Grau J

Solicitors:
Crown Solicitor, Wellington