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Question Details: What is likely to happen if a New Zealand citizen leaves the country with $10,000 in fines, as well as missing a court case for driving convictions?
Filed under Criminal Law | 1320 View(s)
Community Law Wellington & Hutt Valley
For the unpaid fines, at some stage the Collections Unit of the Ministry of Justice may seek to have the citizen called to attend court about the fines. If the citizen is overseas and will not make the court date, the court may issue a warrant for their arrest, which may be waiting for them if they return to New Zealand.
The next part of the question refers to driving 'convictions'. If you mean outstanding driving 'charges' or driving convictions which have not yet been sentenced (so the case is still ongoing), then if the citizen does not appear at their next court date, the court will likely issue a warrant to arrest them.
Alternatively the Police can (depending on the charges and the circumstances) continue with the case without the person there, file the Police evidence and prove the case, and the person can be convicted and a sentenced.
Further, the citizen would have been bailed to the next court date, and it is a new criminal offence to miss a court date. Therefore a new charge for breach of bail may be filed by the Police. If the person is overseas, the court may issue a warrant to arrest them as they will not be able to be served with the new charge.
Answered 5 Mar 2013. The IMPORTANT NOTICE below is part of this answer.
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