Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - affray.

[2015]JRC152

Royal Court

(Samedi)

6 July 2015

The Attorney General

-v-

James Alberto Lopes Veloso

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

Age:  20.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The defendant, an immature young man who displayed the symptoms of Attention-Deficit/Hyperactivity Disorder (ADHD), was outside his house with his younger sister and three neighbours.  The pair had been arguing and teasing each other when the defendant picked up a pair of scissors and chased his sister with them.  According to witnesses he was holding them "like you hold a knife" and "as if he was going to stab someone".  The defendant chased his sister into her house saying "Die".  The defendant subsequently followed his sister outside again and shot her in the face from a distance of two to three metres with a small BB gun causing a welt on her chin.  Although the Crown noted that this was a small scale spontaneous affray that took place mainly on private premises, the witnesses were shocked and frightened. 

Details of Mitigation:

Youth; guilty plea; recent expressions of remorse (after initially fleeing the scene and being non-cooperative during police interview); low level of intellectual functioning and medical and mental health issues; references from family and friends. 

Previous Convictions:

Two previous convictions for larceny and harassment of an ex-girlfriend; two convictions for driving offences in the Youth Court. 

Conclusions:

Forfeiture and destruction of the BB gun sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Although the defendant was assessed as being at a high risk of reoffending, the Court noted that he needed help and assistance and had the support of his family who had declined to support the prosecution. 

Forfeiture and destruction of the BB gun ordered.

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

C. M. Fogarty for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE commissioner:

1.        Now this must have been a very frightening experience for your sister and those who saw it.  You chased her, holding scissors, and then you shot her on the chin with the BB gun causing her, not surprisingly, to cry.  It is clear from the reports that for some time you have played down how serious these offences were and the effect that they would have had on those who saw it.  We do hope that you now understand how badly you treated your sister and how it must have been such a frightening experience for her.

2.        Normally for offences of affray, which is what you are charged with, a prison sentence will follow.  But the Court has said before that affrays can vary enormously in their gravity and one has to have regard to the level of violence used, the scale of the affray, in other words how many people were involved in it, and the extent to which it is pre-meditated or spontaneous.  We accept that, despite the use of the scissors and the BB gun, this was not the most serious of affrays, it was spontaneous and it involved basically you and your sister.  It was in many ways more akin to a grave and criminal assault on your sister, grave and criminal not because of any injuries but because of the use of the scissors and the BB gun. 

3.        Now although affrays normally mean prison, Advocate Fogarty has said we should not send you to prison on this occasion.  She explains that you have pleaded guilty; that you are a young man still, only 20, and therefore Article 4 of the Criminal Justice (Young Offenders)(Jersey) Law 1994 applies.  She has pointed out that you have not really been in much trouble before and she has referred us to the letters of support we have had.  We have read them carefully and it is clear there is a very good side to you.  She has also referred us to the probation report and the psychological report and all of these say that what you need is concentrated help and assistance in relation to the various issues that you face, including your ADHD.  We also take account of the fact that you have served the equivalent of 3½ months' youth detention on remand.  We are also pleased that your grandmother is willing to have you to stay with her until matters can be sorted out. 

4.        So the strong recommendation from the Probation Service is that, although it will be very high risk, we should put you on probation and impose community service and, on this occasion, we are going to agree with them.  We think that this offers the best hope of preventing you from committing further offences and that would not only be in your interests and your family's interests, but also in the community's interests.  But we are conscious that we are taking a risk and we hope that you are going to repay the trust which the Court has placed in you.  We hope you understand that. 

5.        We are going to place you on probation for 18 months.  Now that means that you must do exactly what the Probation Service tell you because if you do not do what they say, then they can bring you back to us and we will have to punish you, do you understand?  We are also going to impose a Community Service Order; this means that you must carry out work for nothing; we think it is time you learned how to work, and we are going to impose a community service of 180 hours which is equivalent to 12 months' youth detention.  And again, you must turn up on the dot to do that work, no lying in bed when it's time to go and work.  You must work hard whilst you are there and you must do what the organisers tell you because if you do not, again they will send you back to us and we will probably have to send you to youth detention then, do you understand? 

6.        And of course if you were to commit any further offences you will come back and then we will almost certainly have to send you to youth detention.  So we hope very much that you will take advantage of all the help which is going to be offered now for you and your family and we urge you to take advantage of it, take the help which is offered.

7.        We also order the forfeiture and destruction of the gun. 

Authorities

Criminal Justice (Young Offenders)(Jersey) Law 1994.

AG v Burrell and others [2003] JLR N 53.

AG-v-Burrell and others [2003] JRC 209.

AG v Richomme [2015] JRC 096.

AG v Heard [2012] JRC 132.

AG v De Carvalho and Richomme [2014] JRC 213A.

Whelan on Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Court of Jersey 3rd Edition.