Inferior Number Sentencing - motoring - failing to stop and report an
accident
[2024]JRC281
Royal Court
(Samedi)
13 December 2024
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Before :
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Sir Timothy John Le Cocq, Bailiff, and
Jurats Christensen MBE and Opfermann
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The Attorney General
-v-
Pedro Nuno Rodrigues Caires
Sentencing by the Inferior
Number of the Royal Court, following guilty pleas to the following charges:
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1 count of:
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Driving a motor vehicle with alcohol
concentration above the prescribed limit, contrary to Article 28(1)(a) of the
Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956 (Count 1)
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1 count of:
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Causing serious injury by dangerous driving,
contrary to Article 23A(1) of the Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956
(Count 2)
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1 count of:
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Failing to stop and report an accident,
contrary to Article 52(1)(a) of the Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956
(Count 3).
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Age: 39.
Plea: Guilty.
Details of Offence:
On Sunday 9 July 2023, the Defendant
had been at a private function at the Royal Yacht Hotel, where he had been
drinking. He left the Royal Yacht
at approximately 9:48pm and drove his BMW from Ordnance Yard along a number of
roads before driving up Queens Road.
CCTV footage from the
Morrison’s store at the top of Queens Road hill showed the Defendant
driving in a northerly direction at approximately 9:54pm at a speed between 79
and 83 mph. The footage then showed
the Defendant driving in a southerly direction at approximately 9:56pm at a
speed between 77 and 81 mph. The
speed limit on that stretch of road is 30 mph.
As the Defendant travelled south on
Queens Road, a food takeaway delivery driver was driving his Toyota Yaris along
Queens Road.
A witness saw the Yaris, stationary
in the southbound lane of Queens Road, between Lower Kings Cliffe and
Queen’s Avenue. The Defendant
crashed his BMW into the back of the Yaris. Significant damage was caused to the
Yaris, BMW and properties along Queen’s Road. After the crash the Defendant ran away
from the scene and was arrested several hours later in a flat adjacent to his
home address.
The delivery driver had to be cut
out of the Yaris and suffered, among other injuries, a very narrow subdural
hematoma (a collection of blood between the surface of the brain and the skull)
in the left frontoparietal region (front and top of the brain) and haemorrhagic
contusions of the left frontal region of the brain, which are variously
described as small/tiny.
Details of Mitigation:
Guilty pleas, remorse, no
previous motoring convictions. Defendant earns primary income for his
family; imprisonment would lead to loss of employment and potentially loss of
home for family. Inexplicable delay
between commission of offence and conclusion of investigation.
Previous Convictions:
Two convictions from 2011 for
possession of cannabis and battery.
Conclusions:
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Count 1:
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1 month’s imprisonment, 18 months
disqualification from driving with requirement to retake driving test,
concurrent.
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Count 2:
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3 years’ imprisonment, 4 years
disqualification from driving with requirement to retake driving test.
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Count 3:
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4 months’ imprisonment, concurrent
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Total: 3 years’ imprisonment, 4 years
disqualification from driving with requirement to retake driving test. (This
disqualification will automatically run from 26 September 2024, when the
interim disqualification was imposed).
Recommendation for deportation not
sought.
Sentence and Observations of Court:
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Count 1:
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50 hours’ Community Service Order
(equivalent to 1 month’s imprisonment), 18 months disqualification from
driving with requirement to retake driving test, concurrent.
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Count 2:
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312 hours’ Community Service Order
(equivalent to 2 years’ imprisonment), 2 years and 6 months
disqualification from driving with requirement to retake driving test.
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Count 3:
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100 hours Community Service Order
(equivalent to 4 months’ imprisonment), concurrent.
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Total: 312 hours’ Community Service Order
(equivalent to 2 years’ imprisonment), 2 years and 6 months
disqualification from driving with requirement to retake driving test.
(Disqualification commenced on 26 September 2024, when the interim
disqualification was imposed).
P. M. Lee Esq., Crown Advocate.
Advocate L.V. Marks for the Defendant.
JUDGMENT
THE BAILIFF:
1.
We will
give further reasons in writing for our decision in due course. In general, however, we think that the
Crown’s assessment of the appropriate sentence in terms of imprisonment
is somewhat too high and in normal
circumstances, a sentence of 2 year’s imprisonment would be appropriate.
2.
However,
we think that the available mitigation which includes very clear and genuine
remorse, taken with what we regard as wholly inexcusable delay which we see as
a material extra punishment already suffered by this Defendant, together with
the clear recommendation in the Pre-Sentencing Report, enables us to take an
exceptional course and impose a sentence of community service in this
matter.
3.
Accordingly,
you are sentenced as follows:-
(i)
Count 1
driving a motor vehicle with alcohol concentration above the prescribed limit,
50 hours’ community service, which is the equivalent to 1 month
imprisonment to run concurrent together with 18 months’ disqualification from
driving with the requirement to retake the driving test;
(ii) Count 2 causing serious injury by dangerous
driving, 312 hours community service, the equivalent of 2 years' imprisonment
with a 2½ years’
disqualification from driving with the requirement to retake the driving test;
and
(iii) Count 3 failing to stop and report an accident,
100 hours’ community service, the equivalent of 4 months’
imprisonment also concurrent making a total of 312 hours of community service
with a 2.5 years’ disqualification from driving dating from 26 September
2024 with a requirement to retake the test.
4.
We make as
we already indicated no recommendation for deportation and that concludes the
decision of the Court, further reasons will be handed down in due course.
Authorities
Road Traffic (Jersey) Law 1956
AG
v Wilkinson [2023] JRC 042
AG
v Arnold [2023] JRC 064
Camacho
v AG [2007] JLR 462
Criminal Justice (Compensation
Orders)(Jersey) Law 1994
Magistrate’s Court Sentencing
Guidelines – Motoring
AG
v Figueira [2007] JRC 136
AG
v Cardoso, Santos and Silva [2014] JRC 206
AG
v B [2018] JRC 050
AG
v Koradi [2014] JRC 073