2001/201
ROYAL COURT
(Samedi Division)
28th September 2001
Before:
|
M.C. St. J. Birt, Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats
Le Brocq and Bullen.
|
The Attorney General
-v-
Mark William Sneddon
1 count of:
|
grave and criminal assault.
|
Breach of 6 month Probation Order
made in the Magistrate’s Court on 24th January, 2001, on
guilty plea to 1 count of being drunk and disorderly and 1 count of malicious
damage.
Age: 31.
Plea: Guilty;
breach of Probation Order admitted.
Details of Offence:
On 29th May, 2001, the defendant
and his girlfriend (the victim) spent the day on the beach where the defendant
consumed several cans of lager.
That evening the defendant continued drinking in several public houses.
The defendant and the victim began to argue in one of the bars, as a result of
which the victim left and began walking home on her own. The defendant pursued the victim and
started shouting at her in the street.
He gradually became more threatening and pushed the victim from behind
causing her to fall to the floor; he then grabbed her by the hair and attempted
to drag her along. He kicked her
several times on her arms and head and stamped on her head. The victim believed she had lost
consciousness at one point during the attack. She suffered abrasions and bruising but
received no serious injury.
Breach of Probation Order imposed by
the Magistrate’s Court on 24th January, 2001, to 1 count of
being drunk and disorderly and 1 count of malicious damage.
Details of Mitigation:
An early plea of guilty was
entered in circumstances where the prosecution could not have succeeded easily;
the parties are now reconciled; at the end of her statement which the victim
made to the police she requested that she did not want the defendant to be
prosecuted; the defendant had a tempestuous relationship with the victim.
Previous Convictions:
1988 & 1989: breach of the
peace; illegal entry, malicious damage, larceny from a shop. There were no convictions for violence.
Conclusions:
18 months’ imprisonment; 6
months’ exclusion order from licensed premises of 1st and 7th
category.
Breach of Probation Order: 1
month’s imprisonment on each count, concurrent, but consecutive to 18
months sentence.
Sentence and Observations of Court:
240 hours Community Service Order.
Breach of Probation Order: 50
hours Community Service Order on each count, concurrent.
6 months’ exclusion order
from licensed premises.
2 year Probation Order.
In exceptional
circumstances, individualised sentence possible.
The Attorney General.
Advocate P. de C. Mourant for the Defendant.
JUDGMENT
THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:
1.
Sneddon,
this was a nasty attack on your girlfriend. There was an argument in the street, you
punched her to the ground and then you kicked her several times causing
bruising to both her ears, to her forehead and to her arms. The Court takes a strict view of such
offending and it almost always leads to a prison sentence.
2.
The
Attorney General has taken a starting point of three years for this
offence. Indeed he has gone further
and asked us to endorse the general statement that three years is the correct
starting point for an attack in a public place involving a series of kicks with
a lightly shod foot to the head and body of a person on the ground.
3.
We
understand the desire for guidelines but we do not feel able to endorse such a
precise statement. Even within
these parameters there are many variables.
How many kicks? How hard
were the kicks? Kicks can vary
enormously in the strength with which they are carried out. What were the injuries? What led up to the assault? And there may be other variables that we
have not stated. What we do say is
that for the facts of this particular offence we agree that a starting point of
three years is correct.
4.
However,
Mr. Mourant has argued strongly that we should not impose a prison
sentence. He has referred to
powerful mitigation. He refers
first to your guilty plea and we agree that that was particularly significant
here because the victim (your girlfriend) did not wish to proceed. There was no other evidence in relation
to the assault.
5.
Secondly,
he points out that there is no evidence of any serious injuries and that you
have no previous convictions for violence.
He relies strongly upon the fact that the victim did not at any stage
wish there to be a prosecution. You
are still living together and she earnestly wishes there not to be a prison
sentence. It is clear to us that
you are remorseful. It is also
clear to us that you have a drink problem and that you incline towards violent
or uncontrolled behaviour when you have had too much to drink.
6.
Taking all
these matters into account and all the matters dealt with very thoroughly in
the social inquiry report we think we can proceed on this case by an
individualised sentence. In other
words we will not send you to prison.
The most important thing, we consider, is that you should undergo the
courses referred to by the Probation Service in the hope that this will enable
you to address your problems and not re-offend in this way. Our main concern in this case is the
protection of your partner and we wish to do all we can to ensure that there is
no repetition.
7.
The
sentence of the Court therefore is one of 2 years’ probation. We do not impose a condition that you
attend particular courses, that would be a matter for the Probation Service,
but we strongly support the need for you to attend the two courses
suggested. Secondly, because this
was such a serious assault you must serve a period of community service and we
impose a sentence of 240 hours which you must carry out within the next twelve
months.
8.
We state,
as we are required to by law, that the sentence of imprisonment which we would
have passed would have been 18 months.
We think the Crown’s conclusions were absolutely correct. In relation to the breach of probation
you are sentenced to 50 hours’ community service, concurrent, making a
total of 240 hours. Furthermore, we
make an exclusion order so that you are not allowed into any 1st or
7th category public houses for the next six months.
9.
Finally,
Sneddon, I must warn you that you must stick by these orders. If you do not turn up to see the
Probation Officer, if you do not carry out the community service, if you do not
attend the courses, or if you re-offend you will be brought back before us and
I can assure you that if you are brought back you will go to prison for a
lengthy period in the way that we have described because this was a serious
offence. You can consider yourself extremely lucky.
Authorities
AG-v-Mallet (24th May, 2000) Jersey Unreported; [2000/87].
Mallet-v-AG (14th July, 2000) Jersey Unreported; [2000/134].
AG-v-Le Mains (20th
October, 1996) Jersey Unreported.
Le
Monnier-v-AG (27th October, 2000)
Jersey Unreported; [2000/208].