KISSLING v R SC 42/2008 [21 August 2008]
IN THE SUPREME COURT OF NEW ZEALAND
SC 42/2008
[2008] NZSC 66
JAMIE RONAKI KISSLING
V
THE QUEEN
Court: Blanchard, McGrath and Wilson JJ
Counsel: Applicant in Person
Judgment: 21 August 2008
JUDGMENT OF THE COURT
The application for leave to appeal is dismissed.
REASONS
[1] This application is brought out of time and seeks leave for a direct appeal from the High Court to this Court.
Written submissions have been received from the applicant. Having considered them we have no need to call upon the Crown
to provide submissions.
[2] The High Court decision which the applicant wishes to challenge concerned a change in the venue of the applicant’s
trial from Rotorua to Hamilton. The applicant objected to that change and also sought what the High Court Judge called
“a transfer of the case to the tribal or customary courts of the Te One One Tribes”. The High Court Judge declined the
latter application because the bodies referred to by the applicant did not have any legal authority to administer the
criminal laws of New Zealand.
[3] No explanation has been provided for the lateness of the present application but, in any event, this Court is
directed in s 14 of the Supreme Court Act 2003 that it must not give leave to appeal directly to it against a decision
of a Court other than the Court of Appeal unless it is satisfied that there are exceptional circumstances that justify
taking an appeal directly to this Court. We have not been satisfied that there are any exceptional circumstances in this
case.