Unlawful arrest — consequences — invalid charging document — "nullity" — withdrawal — delay — Criminal Procedure Act 2011, ss 146, 147, 214 & 280A — Oranga Tamariki Act 1989, ss 245, 247 & 333 — New Zealand Police v MR [2022] NZYC 54 — Pomare v Police HC Whangarei AP 8/02, 12 March 2002 — Thompson v R [2016] NZHC 2753 — Police v Walker [1974] 2 NZLR 418 (SC) — Muirson v Collector of Customs [1982] 2 NZLR 506 (HC) — Police v DS [2016] NZYC 444 — X v District Court at Auckland [2020] NZHC 2952. This hearing was to determine the consequences of a finding of unlawful arrest of the child by the police. At issue was whether the matter should be dealt with under ss 146 or 147 of the Criminal Procedure Act ("CPA"); s 146 constituted a withdrawal of the charges, whereas under s 147 the charges were dismissed and could not be brought back before the Court. The Judge considered case law which determined that if a charging document did not comply with s 214 of the CPA the charge was deemed a nullity and could not be dismissed under s 147. It was unclear whether a charge, having been deemed a nullity, could be withdrawn under s 146. However the Judge in this instance reasoned that if a charge had been deemed a nullity there was jurisdiction to withdraw the charge under s 146, otherwise the charge would remain in the system with no way to progress it. This would potentially cause procedural and administrative difficulties. The Judge also addressed the issue of delay, noting that the unlawful arrest had not created a discrete delay; there had been a delay in obtaining a s 333 report due to COVID and the report was still not available. Further delays would be caused by timeframes involved in the Family Group Conference (FGC) and if the police were to lay further charges in the Youth Court, at which point the possibility of a delay due to the unlawful arrest would be considered. Further delays could be mitigated if the police were to progress things with an application to the Family Court for a FGC. The Judge found that there was no jurisdiction to grant an application to dismiss the charges, but that there was jurisdiction to grant an application to withdraw the charges. The Judge granted leave for the police to withdraw the charging documents. Judgment date: 30 March 2022. * * * Note: names have been changed to comply with legal requirements. * **