Ex-cop loses second appeal bid
A former Taranaki cop who fleeced nearly half a million dollars from his hapu¯ has lost his second bid to bring an appeal against his jail sentence.
Shaun Joseph Keenan was sentenced to three years and eight months in prison in the New Plymouth District Court on August 20, 2019, after stealing $486,045.71 from Nga¯ti Te Whiti Whenua Topu Trust between 2012-2017.
In 2014, he had been made the trust’s chief executive officer.
He had full access to trust bank accounts and the ability to authorise payments.
But by the end of 2016 there was no money to pay the salaries of employees and honorariums of the trustees and his contract was terminated.
A multimillion-dollar marae building project near New Plymouth’s Nga¯ motu beach had to be abandoned.
Keenan, who spent 21 years as a police officer, pleaded guilty to six charges of forgery, 36 charges of theft by a person in a special relationship and four charges of obtaining by deception.
Judge Garry Barkle imposed a minimum period of imprisonment (MPI) of 50 per cent, which worked out to be one year and nine months, and ordered Keenan to pay $75,000 reparation when released from jail and in employment, despite imminent bankruptcy.
All offenders serving sentences of more than two years become eligible for parole after serving onethird of their sentence, unless the court fixes a minimum period the offender must spend in prison.
An appeal to the High Court on the imposition of the minimum period of imprisonment was dismissed, and last week Keenan sought leave for a second appeal, not only on the issue of MPI but other aspects of the court’s reasoning on sentence.
It was contended that the ‘‘sentencing methodology and calculation was in error and resulted in a manifestly excessive sentence’’.
The named reasons were: the adopting of the starting point, declining to make allowance for mitigating factors because of the strength of the aggravating factors, and imposing a 50 per cent MPI.
Keenan’s lawyer, Elizabeth Hall, argued that one of the six aggravating factors that led to the sentencing decision, that the crimes were planned and premeditated, was double counted as this was clear in other factors.
She also drew attention to differing judges’ opinions on Keenan’s remorse, which had partially resulted in the MPI, and inadequate discounts to his sentence.
The Court of Appeal found this was not the case.
‘‘We consider that the application does not raise a matter of general or public importance,’’ concluded the judgment of the court.
‘‘Nor do we consider that a miscarriage of justice may have occurred or may occur unless the appeal is heard.’’
Keenan’s application for leave to bring a second appeal against sentence was therefore declined.