Page 55 - Magistrates Conference 2019

Assistance to the Authorities

• The factor of assistance to authorities should be taken into account in a

defendant’s favour.

• In Ong v R [2012] NZLR 258, at para.13, the Court of Appeal of New Zealand said

that, “The general thrust of Commonwealth authorities is that any credit must be

linked to tangible and valuable assistance.” At para. 16, the concept of “invaluable

assistance” was described as follows:

“Value is a function of quality and quantity. If the information given is unreliable,

vague, lacking in practical utility, or already known to the authorities, no

identifiable discount may be given, or if given, any discount will be minimal. If the

information given is accurate, particularised, useful in practice, and hitherto

unknown to the authorities, enabling serious criminal activity to stopped, and

serious criminals brought to book, the discount may be substantial.”

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