Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - grave and criminal - malicious damage - breaking and entering and malicious damage - public nuisance - drugs - possession - Class B.

[2013]JRC241

Royal Court

(Samedi)

29 November 2013

The Attorney General

-v-

Daniel King

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

Age:  30.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

On a Sunday afternoon in March 2013 King was seen to urinate against a wall of Mont à l'Abbé Cemetery while young children were playing in the area (Count 1); he was drunk and when arrested treated the matter as a joke.  He failed to take advantage of several opportunities to attend a Parish Hall Enquiry with regard to that matter.  Around daybreak on 13^th July, 2013, a residential care worker at a hostel heard loud banging coming from the street outside, looked out and saw King damaging cars with a stick or bar of some sort (Counts 2-6).  King looked across to the office where the female care worker was, walked up to the locked front door of the hostel, barged the door open, walked up a flight of stairs, took hold of a fire extinguisher and discharged its contents onto walls and landing before entering an unoccupied room.  The care worker had telephoned police when she originally saw King damaging the cars, and subsequently locked herself in the office; police arrived and arrested King shortly after the fire extinguisher incident.  King was subsequently released pending further investigations.  On 22^nd July the occupants of a flat adjacent to that occupied by King and his then girlfriend were woken by the sound of a female screaming and a disturbance coming from King's flat; one described seeing the girlfriend slumped at the doorway of the flat, with King grabbing her hair and banging her head against the door, then punching her two or three times to the face, after which she tried to run off; another telephoned the police who provided a rapid response and arrived to find the girlfriend running up the street pursued by a bare-chested and perspiring King.  The victim was so frightened she was overcome by nausea once she was safe; she was then taken back to the flat where she identified a large kitchen knife King had been gesticulating with during the assault, she also described how King pushed her into a corner, punched her and pulled her by her hair, putting the knife down and then picking it up again and that she genuinely thought he was going to kill her.  King was under the influence of alcohol when committing all the offences on the Indictment. 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty pleas on Indictment; had indicated same in lower court save in relation to the grave and criminal assault. 

Previous Convictions:

14 previous convictions including one for possession of an offensive weapon in Jersey in 2011 (120 hours' Community Service Order); he had served a custodial sentence in UK for battery in 2010. 

Conclusions:

Total: 3½ years' imprisonment.

Exclusion Order sought for a period of 12 months from date of release from prison excluding the defendant from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises excluding the Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Arts centre, Jersey Airport, the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour and the Opera House.

Forfeiture and destruction of the knife sought.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Sentence for the breaking and entering offence should have been higher had it not been for the principle of totality.

Total: 3½ years imprisonment.

Exclusion Order made for a period of 12 months from date of release from prison excluding the defendant from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises excluding the Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Arts centre, Jersey Airport, the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour and the Opera House.

Forfeiture and destruction of the drugs ordered.

Mrs S. J. O'Donnell, Crown Advocate.

Advocate S. E. A. Dale for the Defendant.

Advocate.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You are indicted with nine counts in all comprising five of malicious damage, one of breaking and entering and damage, one of urinating in a public place, a grave and criminal assault and, finally, possession of a personal amount of cannabis.  The offending took place for the most part on 13^th July, and over the period 22^nd - 23^rd of July.  The malicious damage charges reflected mindless damage, inflicted with a stick or bar of some sort, on cars in a public road, in one case involving loss in excess of £1,000, and then discharging a fire extinguisher in a residential hostel into which you had broken.  In the course of those offences a residential child care officer on the premises was extremely frightened and scared.  The grave and criminal assault was committed some two weeks later when you seriously assaulted your partner.  The relationship was already in a difficult state and she was on the point of moving out, it appears, of accommodation which you shared together.  During the course of the assault you gesticulated with a large kitchen knife which frightened her considerably, so much so that even though you may not have intended to threaten her with it, she thought that it might be "the end".  You grabbed her hair, banged her head against the door and punched her in the face about two or three times; you put her in a head lock when she tried to flee the building, as a result of which you both fell to the floor.  You were under the influence of alcohol when committing all these offences, which is an aggravating factor, as was your abusive reaction to police officers doing their duty. 

2.        The offending is serious.  The grave and criminal assault is a most serious offence and the Court wishes to make it absolutely clear that domestic violence is completely unacceptable and will usually result in a custodial sentence, in some cases, a significant one.  In this case this is your second conviction for an offence of domestic violence.  A custodial sentence is inevitable.  During and after your sentence we suggest that you take advantage of all the help you are offered to keep yourself under control.  The breaking and entering is also serious.  We cannot accept the statement that it was just chance that you broke into this particular hostel when it is clear from the summary that you saw the residential child care officer, though you did not know she was a residential child care officer, was on the telephone. 

3.        We take into account your guilty plea, although in the case of the 13^th July incident it was probably inevitable you would face a conviction.  We take into account that there may have been some provocation before the assault but there was nothing to explain or justify your conduct.  We have read the references which have been provided by your family and obviously have taken those into account. 

4.        In the circumstances we think the Crowns conclusions were entirely correct.  The offence of breaking and entering and the malicious damage in the residential hostel was one which, frankly, called for a longer sentence than the 18 months which has been moved for but it is right to reduce that on grounds of totality.  In the circumstances the conclusions are granted, and you are sentenced to a total of 3½ years imprisonment, broken down in respect of each count as concluded by the Crown. 

5.        We also order the destruction of the drugs.

6.        The consumption of alcohol was, as we have indicated, a contributory factor and also an aggravating factor in relation to the offences and therefore we make an Exclusion Order.  You are, for a period of 12 months taking effect from the day of your release, excluded from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises, other than the Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Arts Centre, Jersey Airport, the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour and the Opera House. 

Authorities

Harrison-v-AG [2004] JLR 111.

AG-v-da Silva [2011] JRC 113.

AG-v-Barwise [2009] JRC 182.

Whelan on Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Courts of Jersey.

AG-v-da Silva [1997] JLR N 14a

AG-v-da Silva 1997/218.

Licensed Premises (Exclusion of Certain Persons)(Jersey) Law 1998.