Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2004]JRC055

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

 

19^th March 2004

 

 

The Attorney General

-v-

Mark William O'Brien

 

 

 

1 count of:	Aiding, assisting, or participating in breaking and entry and larceny (Count 1A).
1 count of:	Larceny (Count 3).
1 count of:	Illegal entry with intent (Count 4).

 

[On 27th February, 2004, the Crown accepted Not Guilty pleas to counts 2, 2A and Count 1 fell away, after a Guilty plea to Count 1A].

 

Age:     24.

 

Plea:    Guilty.

 

Details of Offence:

In the early hours of the morning on Sunday, 13^th October, 2002, Millers Bar Bistro in Quennevais Precinct was broken into.  The front door was forced.  More than one person was involved in the break in.  O'Brien participated and entered the premises where an untidy search was carried out and some damage was caused.  Items of fairly nominal value were stolen including some cash and bottles of alcohol.  An attempt was made to steal a safe containing £2,000, it being dragged out of the premises onto the pavement.  The safe had to be abandoned as people living above the premises were disturbed and the police were called requiring the culprits to flee the scene.  O'Brien was apprehended as a result of forensic analysis identifying a footwear impression on a storeroom door inside the premises as being made by his right training shoe.

During the course of the evening on Thursday, 30^th January, 2003 O'Brien was in Fridays Café Bar.  He entered the female staff toilets and stole £53 from a handbag that had been left there by one of the bar staff.  He was apprehended as a result of being clearly seen entering the female toilets on CCTV footage at the material time.

During the early hours of the morning on Friday, 21^st March, 2003, O'Brien and another unidentified male entered the Dolphin Hotel through a window at the rear of the premises.  An untidy search was carried out inside and damage was caused to a cupboard behind the reception desk.  Persons living on the premises were woken and saw both men.  O'Brien smashed his way out o the premises through the glass panel of the front door and was apprehended shortly afterwards by the police hiding in an adjacent alley way.  Alongside him were found a pair of gloves and a claw hammer.  He was covered with glass which matched the smashed panel of the front door to the premises.  Nothing was stolen.

 

Details of Mitigation:

Pleas of guilty.  Residual youth.  The offences were described as being impulsive and opportunistic and having occurred whilst O'Brien was intoxicated.  It was said he had made serious efforts whilst on remand in prison to get his life back on track.  It was suggested that a custodial sentence of two years would have been more in keeping with the seriousness of the offences than the term sought by the Crown.

 

Conclusions:

The Crown considered that viewed individually the offences merited consecutive terms of imprisonment of 18 months, 6 months and 2 years respectively.  In view of the totality principle, a more appropriate aggregate sentence was considered to be 3 years' imprisonment and so the Crown structured its conclusions.

 

Count 1A:	18 months' imprisonment.
Count 3:	6 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 4:	18 months' imprisonment, consecutive.

 

 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

The Dolphin Hotel offence was aggravated by the premises being occupied.  O'Brien has a long criminal record including offences of this type.  Whilst noting O'Brien's efforts in prison and expressing the hope that he was laying the foundations for a better future for himself, the Court could see no alternative other than to punish O'Brien for his offences and the Court granted the Crown's conclusions.

 

 

A.D. Robinson, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate D. Hopwood for the Defendant.

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

 

THE BAILIFF:

1.        This defendant is to be sentenced on three counts, namely one count of aiding and abetting a break in at Millers Bar Bistro, one count of illegal entry with intent to commit a crime at the Dolphin Hotel and one count of larceny.

2.        The first of those charges involved considerable damage to the premises and an attempt to remove a safe which was eventually abandoned on the pavement. Those were commercial premises.

3.        The second of those charges, the illegal entry of the Dolphin Hotel did, however, involve the aggravating feature that it was highly likely that the premises were occupied.  Indeed they were occupied, and it must have been a very frightening experience for the occupiers to be awoken by young men behaving in the way that this accused and his accomplice did.

4.        The defendant has a long record of previous convictions.  The Court has listened very carefully to the submissions of counsel who has said everything that could be said on the defendant's behalf.  It is very encouraging both that the defendant now has, it appears, the support of his father and that he has himself made considerable efforts to obtain employment in the prison.

5.        We hope that he has begun to lay the foundations for a more worthwhile and satisfying life than he has led so far.  We take into account all the matters laid before us by defence counsel and in the reports which we have read.  We think, however, that the conclusions are correct and that in the meantime the defendant must be punished for the offences that he has admitted.

6.        The conclusions are therefore granted and on count 1A you are sentenced to 18 months' imprisonment; on count 3 to 6 months' imprisonment, concurrent; on count 4 to 18 months' imprisonment, consecutive, making a total of 3 years' imprisonment.

Authorities

Whelan: Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Courts of Jersey (2^nd Ed'n, updated to November, 2003): pp.141-147.

A.G. -v- Gaffney [1995] JLR N.22.

A.G. -v- Da Silva (4^th December, 1997) Jersey Unreported; [1997/218].

A.G. -v- Moreira [2003]JRC083A.