Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2003]JRC196

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

 

31^st October, 2003.

 

 

The Attorney General

-v-

Joao Luis Coelho De Sousa

 

 

 

3 counts of:	Breaking and entering and larceny (Counts 1, 2, 3).
1 count of:	Going equipped, contrary to Article 1 of the Crime (Going Equipped) (Jersey) Law 2003.

 

 

Age:     22.

 

Plea:    Guilty.

 

Details of Offence:

De Sousa gained access to Normans Builders Merchants by sawing through a studwork wall from a neighbouring property.  The break-in disturbed neighbours who called the police.  When the police arrived and searched Normans, they found De Sousa hiding inside.  All the tills had been ransacked.  De Sousa admitted taking £16.00.  An unknown friend of De Sousa had escaped (Count 1).

During subsequent interview Da Sousa admitted having previously broken into Rawlinson & Hunter on two occasions.  On one occasion he stole electrical equipment worth approximately £1,700.00 and cash in the sum of £580.00.  On the second occasion he stole a mobile phone worth £200.00 and £300.00 cash.  On both occasions the premises were damaged and the total cost of repairs was in excess of £2,280.00 (Courts 2 and 3).

Finally, a member of the public had seen De Sousa trying the handles on a row of parked cars.  The police attended and found De Sousa in possession of a bag full of various tools, gloves, vaseline and a torch.  De Sousa admitted that the said tools were "to open cars", and that the other items were to assist in the said criminal activity (Count 4).

 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty pleas; wrote own indictment in relation to Charges 2 and 3; crimes committed in order to fund heroin addiction; relative youth; poor family background; about to become a father and marry local girlfriend.

 

Previous Convictions:

6 previous convictions comprising 19 offences, including 13 theft and kindred offences.

 

Conclusions:

 

Count 1:	15 months' imprisonment.
Count 2:	15 months' imprisonment.
Count 3:	15 months' imprisonment.
Count 4:	6 months' imprisonment, all concurrent.

Recommendation for deportation.

 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted; deportation recommended after sentence served.

Court indicated that conclusions were, if anything, low.

 

 

C.M.M. Yates, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate J. Bell for the Defendant .

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You are before the Court for three offences of breaking and entering and one of going equipped.  All the offences were committed to fund your heroin addiction.  Furthermore, you have an appalling record.  Since you came to Jersey some 8 years ago, you have been before the Courts on 7 different occasions.  You have been placed on probation 4 times but with little success.  You also served two periods of Youth Detention.

2.        We take note of your guilty plea and we also accept that you wrote your own indictment for two of the offences.  We are also pleased that you made efforts to conquer your drug habit for a while after you came out of prison last time, but are sorry that you have relapsed.

3.        We take note of all the matters set out in the reports and in the letters we have received from you and others, but we are quite satisfied that there is no alterative to imprisonment and that the Crown's conclusions, if anything, are on the low side.  The sentence is one of 15 months' imprisonment. 

4.        We must now consider the question of deportation.  As we have said you have a very poor record in the time you have been here; you also have a poor work record.  You are a heroin addict and the Probation Report confirms that you are at high risk of re-offending.

5.        In the circumstances we have no difficulty in concluding that your continued presence in Jersey is detrimental to the Island, but we must balance against that the impact which any deportation would have on your family life, bearing in mind Article 8 of the European Convention on Human Rights.  You came here when you were 14, your mother and brothers and sisters are here.  Your father has died.  Your grandparents in Madeira are not in good health and you do not know your cousins well having had no contact with them since you came here.  Furthermore, your girlfriend in Jersey is expecting your baby.  She has multiple sclerosis and we have read letters from her doctor, from you, from her mother and from your mother, as to the effect on her and them of deportation. 

6.        The fact remains that you have been given a large number of warnings that if you carried on re-offending you would be deported.  You were first warned in May, 1999, by the Immigration Department following some offences.  On the 2^nd June, 2000, this Court warned you of the real risk of deportation if you re-offended.  That warning was repeated in a letter from the Immigration Department a few weeks later.  Despite that warning you came up before this Court again on 23^rd March, 2001.  As the Court explained then it considered very carefully whether to recommend deportation at that time.  It decided not to, but warned you in strong terms of the likelihood of deportation if you re-offended.  That warning was repeated again by the Immigration Department in a letter in March, 2002, when you were released from youth detention.

7.        Despite all these warnings, you have reverted to your drug habit, your employment record remains poor, and you have committed the offences for which you are now before us.  We appreciate the hardship which will be caused if you are deported, but that has to be balanced against the interests of the community.  Ultimately, you must take responsibility for your actions.  Given the number of warnings that you have had, and the other matters we have described, we are in no doubt that the interests of the community must prevail over the hardship which you and your family will suffer.  We, therefore, recommend deportation.

Authorities

Attorney General -v- Monteiro (27^th April, 2001) Jersey Unreported; [2001/90].

Monteiro -v- Attorney General (7^th August, 2001) Jersey Unreported; [2001/177].

Attorney General -v- Buckley and Ors (29^th April, 2002) Jersey Unreported; [2002/86].

Attorney General -v- Gaffney (5^th June, 1995) Jersey Unreported; [1995/101].

Whelan: Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Courts of Jersey (2^nd Ed'n): paras:378-91; 514-26.

Attorney General -v- Sutcliffe (24^th August, 2001) Jersey Unreported; [2001/186].

Attorney General -v- Higham (17^th March, 2000) Jersey Unreported; [2000/48].

R. -v- McInerney (2003) 2 Cr. App. R. (S).