Jersey Unreported Judgments

[2009]JRC179

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

4^th September 2009

The Attorney General

-v-

Maria Ivone Vieira

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following guilty pleas to the following charges:

Age:  30.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

On Thursday 5^th February, 2009, Vieira went to visit her brother, currently an inmate at La Moye prison.  While in the main visitor's room, a Prison Officer saw her pass an item to her brother.  The visit was interrupted and her brother was found in possession of a small amount of cannabis resin.  On analysis this was found to weigh 2.61 grams.

On Wednesday 5^th August, 2009, at 2:05am, Police attended a property in St Clement, following information that a female could be heard arguing at the premises, and had been heard doing so for the past three hours.  Officers had concerns for the occupants of that address and for the child who resides at that location.

When Officers arrived they could clearly hear raised voices coming from the rear of that property.  The door was answered after a couple of minutes by Vieira.  She was intoxicated and verbally abusive and unhappy that they wished to enter her premises.  After several warnings she was arrested.  She was not cautioned at the time due to her extreme intoxication and the fact that she was shouting and screaming.

These offences put her in breach of a Probation Order imposed by the Magistrate's Court on 17^th December, 2008.

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea, admissions in interview, remorse, now recognises that she has a significant drinking problem.

Previous Convictions:

Several for public order offences.

Conclusions:

Total:  200 hours' Community Service Order.

Probation Order to be discharged and replaced with a further Probation Order and Treatment Order for one year.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Not recommended for deportation.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted.

As in breach, discharge the Probation Order imposed by the Magistrate's Court and sentence to a 12 month Probation with Treatment Order.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs ordered.

R. C. P. Pedley, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate C. L. Nicolle for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE BAILIFF:

1.        The most serious offence which you face is the supply of a very small amount of cannabis to your brother in prison.  We accept that he pressurised you to do this and that you resisted it for some time but nevertheless, supplying drugs to a prisoner is a very serious offence and almost always results in a prison sentence.  That offence and the others also place you in breach of a Probation Order, although we accept that the drug offence was committed very shortly after the Probation Order began and probably not much work had been done at that stage. 

2.        What is quite clear is that you have a problem with alcohol.  This has resulted in your losing custody of your youngest child to his father and it has also resulted in an interim care order being made in respect of your oldest child, although he still spends most of his time with you.  The question is whether a prison sentence can be avoided today.

3.        The Probation Service, the psychological report and Mr Gafoor's report on behalf of the Alcohol and Drugs Service are unanimous in recommending that the best hope of avoiding future offending by you is to make a Probation Order combined with a Treatment Order so that you can address your difficulty with alcohol.

4.        The Crown has agreed with this conclusion.  We have read carefully the references and we are particularly impressed with the reference from the father of your son, who has written in your support saying that you have a good relationship with your son and that it would be very damaging to your son if you were to be sent to prison; so you can be grateful to him for the support he has given to you. 

5.        We have been persuaded that this is an exceptional case and that we can proceed by way of an individualised sentence as the Crown has recommended.  So we are going to grant the conclusions.  On Count 1; we impose a Community Service Order of 180 hours and we say that the equivalent  sentence we had in mind was one of 12 months' imprisonment; on Count 2; 20 hours' Community Service Order, consecutive.  That is a total of 200 hours' Community Service that you have got to do altogether.  In relation to all the offences where you are in breach of probation we discharge the existing Probation Order and, as requested, we make a new Probation Order with a Treatment Order for 1 year.  What that means is that under the Treatment order you must attend the Alcohol and Drugs Service as requested by them and in particular, if they require you to take Ant-abuse you must do so, because you really need to address your alcohol problem.  In relation to the Probation Service you must attend when they tell you to and you must comply with any instructions they give you; similarly with Community Service you must turn up when you are told to and you must carry out the work that they ask you to do. 

6.        You must understand you have been very lucky today.  If you commit any further offences or if you do not comply with the Probation Order or the Treatment Order with the Alcohol and Drugs Service, or if you do not do the Community Service, you will be brought back here and, if you are brought back, then the chances are you will go to prison.  I am sure you want to do the best for your children so you must keep out of trouble and comply with the orders which the Court has made.

7.        We order the forfeiture and destruction of the drugs.

Authorities

Whitehouse-v-AG [2004] JRC 064.