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R v Bowden [2020] NZDC 26492

Published 17 September 2021

Sentencing — assault with intent to rob — unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle. The defendant appeared for sentence on one charge of assault with intent to rob, and another of unlawfully getting into a motor vehicle. He threatened the victim with what the victim thought was a firearm, and then struck the victim over the head, causing two significant wounds. Whether the defendant was successful in getting any money was unclear, but the intent to rob was clearly made out. The starting point for this offending was five years' imprisonment. Uplifts were made for the other offending (sentenced previously), bringing the sentence to seven years. The Court then applied discounts for youth, the cultural report and the guilty plea, bringing the final sentence to three years one month imprisonment. Judgment Date: 17 December 2020.