Paul Joseph Dally has been at the self-care unit at Auckland South Corrections Facility, with a minimum security classification Photo: RNZ / Sam Olley

In a decision released on Thursday, the parole board remained concerned about the level of support available to Dally while he reintegrated, but work was underway to prepare him for that.

He was sentenced to life imprisonment on 8 March 1990, and for the past year had been held in a self-care unit at Auckland South Corrections Facility, with a minimum security classification.

When he appeared before the parole board in June 2024, it heard about his efforts to prepare for an eventual release - but on that date, he did not seek parole

By now aged in his mid 60s, he was told to expect a very different world than the one he had known - one where people used cards rather than cash, and bought their food from modern supermarkets.

His lawyer, Emma Priest, submitted in April that, while her client was not seeking parole, he was "almost ready," although he remained dependent on support from his case manager to prepare for reintegration.

A man sent to prison after an “unlawful” photo was taken by a police officer, linking him to a robbery, has had the charge thrown out after a long fight and can now walk free.

Mahia Tamiefuna was convicted and sentenced to a term of imprisonment in 2021 after being charged in relation to an aggravated robbery in 2019.

Tamiefuna then appealed that conviction all the way up to the Supreme Court, who ruled the police photograph was unlawful and in breach of his rights, meaning the evidence had to be excluded.

The Supreme Court quashed the conviction and ordered a retrial.

On Wednesday, prosecutor Henry Steele told Justice Timothy Brewer the Crown would not be seeking a retrial as there was insufficient evidence to proceed.

Justice Brewer acquitted Tamiefuna allowing him to leave the dock.

A 27-year-old Auckland teacher was sentenced to two years and one month in prison for grooming and performing sex acts on a 15-year-old student.

• Judge Brooke Gibson emphasised the significant breach of trust and ordered her to be placed on the child sex offender registry.

• The teacher’s request for permanent name suppression was denied, but her name remains suppressed pending appeal.

Key to the trial, Kayes said, was whether Jessop intended to “injure the old man knowing the injury could well cause his death but shot him anyway... or did he intend to shoot at the house to frighten and intimidate and knew there was a real risk someone might be killed.”

Ethan Jessop has pleaded guilty to manslaughter, but denies he intended to kill Rasmussen when he shot him in the leg. Photo: Chris McKeen/Stuff

Jessop has since pleaded guilty to manslaughter, having accepted causing Rasmussen’s death. His lawyer Emma Priest said that while his death was “senseless”, it was not murder.

Lawyer Ian Brookie, assisting Vaitohi, who represented himself during the trial, said he never planned to have Rasmussen killed. He argued the Crown had “reverse engineered” its theory based on “vague” prison phone call recordings.

For Huia, Julie-Anne Kincade KC said the evidence against her client was scant, and that he was unaware Rasmussen would be shot.

A young man who was beaten to death inside an Auckland bar without provocation was a naturally talented musician with an infectious smile and a knack for bringing his people together, his family told the man’s killer today as they stood before him in the High Court at Auckland.

“We may have failed our son because we taught our children to love all people,” Reverend Dr Matagi Vilitama said during his victim impact statement at the murder sentencing of Christopher Tean Salt. “Perhaps if we had taught him to be cautious and suspicious of strangers, he would still be alive today.”

A CCTV camera inside the game room at Richardson’s Bar and Restaurant in Mt Roskill was recording on the night of August 31, 2023 as Salt, 36, violently turned on new acquaintance Tofimua Matagi – blindsiding the gregarious darts opponent with a surprise punch that knocked him to the ground before a “soccer”-like kick to the face and four head stomps with full force.

Defence lawyers say they are doing what they can, to give their clients the best chance of a fair sentence following cuts to funding for background and cultural reports, but it is taking its toll. Under Section 27 of the Sentencing Act an offender can ask the court to hear their background, the way that background may have related to the offence, any efforts to resolve the offending and what further support could be available to help prevent further offending.

A Fonterra manager who gave a young employee a slab of imported beer contaminated with a deadly dose of concentrated liquid methamphetamine has been sentenced to 21 years in prison, as the victim’s family described a “nightmare that never ends” in court.

Himatjit “Jimmy” Kahlon, 42, was found guilty by jurors in the High Court at Auckland last October of manslaughter and possession of methamphetamine for supply.

Aiden Sagala, 21, died on March 7, 2023, when his heart failed from a huge meth overdose – drugs he unknowingly consumed after they were imported in beer cans and stashed in a rented warehouse in Manukau.

In the High Court at Auckland today, Justice Kiri Tahana sentenced Kahlon to 21 years in prison for manslaughter and the possession of meth for supply. A minimum period of imprisonment of 10 years was applied.

An Air New Zealand employee who was “responsible for a crew of corrupt baggage handlers” in a syndicate importing methamphetamine has been sentenced to eight years and nine months in jail.

Matangikolo Piukana was prosecuted in connection with three importations of meth from Malaysia in June and July 2021.

He pleaded guilty on representative charges of importing meth and conspiracy to import the drug, but insisted the amounts alleged by authorities were incorrect.

While the Crown prosecution described him as a “logistical organiser”, the defence argued he was simply a “messenger” for the criminal syndicate importing methamphetamine into New Zealand.

Today, Justice Michele Wilkinson-Smith concluded his position in the scheme was at the “higher end of significant but below leading” and that the drugs would have caused significant harm to communities.

The family of Connor Cole Boyd who died after he was run over by a ute driven by a young man are “shocked and devastated” to learn he is set to be paroled in January.

It’s been nearly three years since a night of escalating tensions among a group of friends ended in tragedy. Boyd had jumped onto the runner board of a ute driven by William Grace, with his then-girlfriend Kaiya Shute sat behind him and grabbing Boyd through the window before he fell under the wheel.

Grace and Shute were jailed earlier this year, and Grace appeared before the Parole Board on Thursday for the first time.

His lawyer, Emma Priest, told the board Grace was aware it was unusual to be seeking early release from prison. But the Parole Board granted Grace parole.

Prominent criminal lawyer Emma Priest has joined the ranks of leading lawyers on LawFuel’s Power List as a result of both her work as an effective advocate and an effective legal educator.

Emma Priest’s two-decade journey has been marked by versatility and a career as a criminal lawyer, a job she loves as she recently wrote – notching up over 100 jury trials and appellate cases involving violence, sexual offenses, and complex drug crimes.