Judge rules against Lena Duncan in ongoing animal welfare case

The SPCA trial against Lena Duncan continues to hit hurdles brought on by Duncan. Photo / NZME

A woman relentlessly demanding the return of her animals involved in an investigation has repeatedly failed in her appeals and has been told she is abusing the court system by rehashing the same futile arguments.

In August 2022, two animal welfare inspectors employed by the SPCA became concerned about the condition of some animals owned by Lena Duncan at two properties. One property was in Napier and the other was in Kaitāia.

Search warrants were obtained from both the Napier District Court and Kaitāia District Court and were executed on August 25, 2022.

The SPCA uplifted 17 horses and one dog from the Napier property owing to concerns for their welfare and a month later, Duncan filed a civil claim seeking the return of the horses claiming the search warrants were unlawful.

The following year on June 13, 2023, the SPCA filed criminal charges against Duncan alleging multiple breaches of the Animal Welfare Act. It also filed a statement of defence to her civil proceeding that her claim could not succeed given there were criminal charges before the courts.

On November 15, 2023, Judge Philip Rzepecky issued a judgment the SPCA had properly executed a lawful search warrant and the horse was to remain in the management of the SPCA.

Despite that judgment, Duncan continued to write to the SPCA demanding the return of the horses and when the SPCA declined, she filed a judicial review in December 2023.

In her review, Duncan continued to maintain the search warrants were illegal, the horses should be returned and sought a declaration that the district court contravened her right to natural justice.

Duncan claimed the search warrant for the address had “Kaitāia” when it should have said “Peria” and was therefore an unlawful search warrant. She also sought an order prohibiting the SPCA from conducting any investigations, filing court applications or exercising powers.

In July, Justice Neil Campbell released his decision agreeing with Judge Philip Rzepecky’s decision and said Duncan’s attempts to relitigate the same issues were an abuse of the court process.

“The abuse, I add, is plain from the manner in which Ms Duncan engineered this part of her claim. Eleven days after Judge Rzepecky gave summary judgment to the SPCA on her claim for the return of the horses, Ms Duncan wrote to the SPCA asking for the horses to be returned to her.

“Her request blithely ignored the Judge’s decision and therefore did not engage with the reasons the Judge had given for his finding that the SPCA did not have to return the horses.”

Justice Campbell struck out all of Duncan’s claims in favour of the SPCA, but Duncan appealed again.

This time, Duncan applied to have Justice Campbell’s judgment recalled but in a decision released this week, has once again failed.

“Ms Duncan’s application to recall the judgment is detailed. But Ms Duncan does not clearly identify the basis upon which she says I should recall my judgment.

“Ms Duncan says that I failed to consider critical facts in reaching my judgment. She says my judgment was therefore wrong. Such a point does not justify recall.

“I decline Ms Duncan’s application to recall my judgment,” Justice Campbell said in his decision.

A judge-alone trial date is still to be scheduled.

Shannon Pitman is a Whangārei based reporter for Open Justice covering courts in the Te Tai Tokerau region. She is of Ngāpuhi/ Ngāti Pūkenga descent and has worked in digital media for the past five years. She joined NZME in 2023.