Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - grave and criminal assault.

[2012]JRC102A

Royal Court

(Samedi)

18 May 2012

The Attorney General

-v-

Kayleigh Barbour

Sentencing by the Inferior Number of the Royal Court, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

Age:  24.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The defendant shared a flat with four other persons including the girlfriend of the victim.  In the early hours of 19^th December, 2011, the victim and his girlfriend, who had been out socialising, returned to the girlfriend's flat.  An argument between the two started and became heated.  The victim punched a wall and threw an electric radiator.  This caused the electricity to go off in the house.  The argument continued and spilled out onto the street.  Other residents of the building, including the defendant, who was drunk, came outside.  The defendant shouted at the victim about the electricity being off and he responded by shouting back and throwing his mobile telephone at her.  The defendant threatened the victim saying "I'm going to stab you".  The victim replied "Go for it".  The defendant returned to the property, collected a small kitchen knife and went back outside.  The defendant and the victim continued shouting at each other.  The victim pushed the defendant who then punched him in the stomach.  When he looked down the defendant stabbed him once in the face with the knife.  The victim sustained a 1cm cut to his left cheek with nerve damage resulting in numbness.  During interview the defendant gave details of the earlier part of the evening but claimed not to know how the victim suffered his injuries. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea; previous good character and excellent references. 

Previous Convictions:

Threatening behaviour and making an annoying telephone call - treated as being of previous good character. 

Conclusions:

The Court's view of assaults involving weapons had been stated many times.  Assaults involving knives are serious and merit a substantial custodial sentence.  The defendant's actions were aggravated by alcohol and there were no exceptional circumstances to cause the Court to depart from its usual sentencing policy.  The Crown moved as follows:-

Exclusion Order from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises except for The Multiplex Cinema, The Jersey Arts Centre, The Jersey Airport, The Ferry Terminal at Elizabeth Harbour and The Opera House, for a period of 12 months from date of release from prison sought.

Forfeiture and destruction of the knife sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

The defendant, in a state of drunkenness, threatened to stab the victim and went into a public place armed with a knife.  There had been some goading from the victim and, whilst the Court accepted that to some extent the defendant had been in fear, it noted that this had not prevented the defendant getting the knife and returning to the scene.  The poor conduct by the victim did not justify the defendant's actions.  The Court took into account that the offence was out of character, the guilty plea, the contents of the social enquiry report and the defendant's previous good character, however the Court's policy on knife crime was clear and the defendant's actions merited a prison sentence. 

Forfeiture and destruction of the knife ordered.

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

Advocate P. S. Landick for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        It will be obvious to you from the length of time that the Court has spent considering what sentence should be imposed that we have found this to be a very difficult case.  You are here to be sentenced for an assault of grave and criminal assault.  It was a grave and criminal assault that involved you, in a state of some drunkenness, going out of your premises carrying a knife and, in a public place, using that knife to the face of the victim.  There was undoubtedly some provocation, some sense of goading; there was, we are satisfied, some physical fear on your part although you nonetheless did leave the safety of your room to go out and you could have called the police; and there were all the personal circumstances which are in the background reports which we have taken into account. 

2.        There is a claim that you said to the victim "I'm going to fucking stab you" and there is a claim that he encouraged you, in a sense, by saying "Go for it".  Whatever the poor conduct of the victim was, and there is no doubt at all that there was a good deal of poor conduct on the part of the victim, the fact remains that in a state of drunkenness you used a knife to the face, and the Court's policy in relation to the use of knives is that, unless there are very unusual circumstances, a custodial sentence must follow.  We have looked very hard and very anxiously at it but we do not feel it is possible to avoid that policy and that is notwithstanding that we are satisfied that it was out of character and that it is very unlikely that you will be troubling the Court again; but we think you will recognise that you have to be punished for what you have done and that is really one of the reasons for the sentence. 

3.        So we have taken into account, as I say, everything that is in the background report, taken into account your guilty plea, your lack of any substantial record, treating you as a person of good character and we acknowledge that you take responsibility for your actions. 

4.        In the circumstances we are going to send you to prison for a period of 18 months.

5.        We order the forfeiture and destruction of the knife. 

Authorities

Harrison-v-AG [2004] JLR 111.

AG-v-Lockhart [2011] JRC 025.

AG-v-Lawlor [2009] JRC 150.

AG-v-de Jesus 2002/41.

AG-v-Williamson and Errais [2010] JRC 185A.