List of people executed in New Zealand
A total of 85 people were executed under New Zealand's capital punishment system while it was in force. An additional five people were executed under military regulations in World War I.
List of executed persons
Military executions
In addition to those executed under New Zealand's regular criminal justice system, five New Zealand soldiers fighting as part of the Allied war effort in World War I were court-martialed and subsequently executed by firing squad.# | Name | Executed | Details |
1 | Frank Hughes | 25 Aug 1916 | Convicted of desertion. |
2 | John Sweeney | 2 Oct 1916 | Convicted of desertion. |
3 | John Braithwaite | 29 Oct 1916 | Convicted of mutiny. After first being incarcerated for repeatedly being away without leave, he was accused of instigating a prison riot, although he claimed that he only involved himself in an attempt to calm it. |
4 | John King | 19 Aug 1917 | Convicted of desertion. |
5 | Victor Spencer | 24 Feb 1918 | Convicted of desertion. |
The executions were not made public at the time. All five were pardoned in 2000 when New Zealand Parliament concluded that their convictions had been unjust, and that today, all would be regarded as mentally unfit to serve. Two of them were born in Australia.
Number of executions by location
Initially, executions were carried out in public, and could be conducted at any suitable location — in at least one case the prisoner was taken to the scene of the crime for execution. Executions from 1862 were carried out in private. Later, the number of locations was reduced to only two — Auckland and Wellington. In total, ten cities were the sites of executions.Location | Number of executions |
Auckland | 41 |
Wellington | 17 |
Lyttelton | 7 |
Dunedin | 4 |
Napier | 4 |
Nelson | 4 |
Hokitika | 2 |
Invercargill | 2 |
New Plymouth | 2 |
Picton | 2 |
Europe | 5 |