Application for judicial review of District Court decision permitting charging documents to be amended to name a different defendant after expiry of statutory limitation period – Criminal Procedure Act 2011, ss 16, 133 – does the amendment constitute the mere correction of a misnomer of the defendant, or the addition or substitution of a different party?

SeaLink Travel Group New Zealand Ltd v District Court at Auckland [2025] NZHC 3508 per O’Gorman J

On 24 May 2023 a diver was pulled into the propellers of the Sea Quest vessel in Half Moon Bay and suffered injury. 

SeaLink New Zealand Ltd (SLNZ) owned the vessel. A related company, SeaLink Travel Group New Zealand Ltd (SLTG), operated the vessel and had engaged a third-party contractor, Salt Services Ltd, to perform maintenance on it. The injured diver was an employee of that contractor.