Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - assault - grave and criminal assault - robbery.

[2016]JRC134

Royal Court

(Samedi)

5 August 2016

Before     :

W. J. Bailhache, Esq., Bailiff, and Jurats Fisher and Sparrow

The Attorney General

-v-

Cheyne Dennis Mildren

Liam Francis Le Clercq

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

Cheyne Dennis Mildren

1 count of:	Grave and criminal assault (Count 2).
1 count of:	Robbery (Count 3).

Age:  25.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

Unprovoked kicks to body; co-defendant kicks to the head followed by robbery of wallet, keys and chain.

Details of Mitigation:

Late guilty plea and troubled background.

Previous Convictions:

Several convictions including 2011 for grave and criminal. 

Conclusions:

Count 2:	2 years and 6 months' imprisonment.
Count 3:	2 years and 6 months' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total: 2 years and 6 months'' imprisonment. 

Exclusion order sought excluding the defendant from 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises excluding The Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Airport and the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour for a period of 18 months from date of release on licence. 

Existing Probation Order to be discharged.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 2:	3 years' imprisonment.
Count 3:	3 years' imprisonment, concurrent.

Total: 3 years' imprisonment. 

Exclusion order made excluding the defendant from 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises excluding The Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Airport and the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour for a period of 18 months from date of release on licence. 

Existing Probation Order to be discharged.

 

Liam Francis Le Clercq

1 count of:	Assault (Count 1).
1 count of:	Grave and criminal assault (Count 2).
1 count of:	Robbery (Count 3).

Age:  25.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

One punch, unprovoked, minor injuries, chased through town. 

Kicks to the head and body, multiple bruises and abrasions. 

Wallet keys and chain stolen. 

Details of Mitigation:

Late guilty plea, troubled background. 

Previous Convictions:

Several convictions but none relating to violence. 

Conclusions:

Count 1:	6 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Counts 2 and 3.
Count 2:	3 years and 6 months' imprisonment.
Count 3:	3 years and 6 months' imprisonment, concurrent to Count 2.

Total: 4 years imprisonment. 

Exclusion order sought excluding the defendant from 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises excluding The Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Airport and the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour for a period of 18 months from date of release on licence. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Conclusions granted. 

M. L. Preston, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate S. A. Pearmain for Mildren.

Advocate P. G. Nicholls for Le Clercq.

JUDGMENT

THE BAILIFF:

1.        Mr Le Clercq, you are here to be sentenced on one count of common assault on your victim and one count of grave and criminal assault and one count of robbery, and in connection with those two counts of grave and criminal assault and robbery you are charged jointly with Mr Mildren and you are here to be sentenced on those charges. 

2.        The facts around the common assault were that you, Mr Le Clercq, punched your victim once in the Snow Hill area of St Helier which you then followed up by chasing him down the street.  We have seen a photograph of the victim and it shows that he had a cut or abrasion close to his chin.  As far as the grave and criminal assault is concerned, that took place in St Brelade and it was a completely unprovoked assault.  The victim was walking home late at night, the two of you followed him down an alleyway, it appears that Mr Mildren was the leader, but we proceed on the basis that it was a joint charge and it is impossible to tell who delivered the first blow.  At all events, the victim was soon on the ground when he was kicked to the head and to the body and we sentence the two of you on the basis that it was Mr Le Clercq who kicked him to the head and that it was Mr Mildren who delivered the kicks to the body.  His false teeth came out of his mouth, he shouted 'please leave me alone, you're killing me', or something like that and he described the attack as sustained and savage.  He lost consciousness during that assault.  The two of you then robbed him, Mr Le Clercq took some of his goods, his wallet, necklace, set of keys, and some of those goods were passed to Mr Mildren, and you then left him, unconscious on the ground.  Shortly after, Mr Le Clercq, you went back and you kicked him again and then you were called away by Mr Mildren. 

3.        You have joint responsibility for that assault and the only differences which we take into account for these purposes are, Mr Le Clercq, that you went back to assault the victim again, and that you delivered, you have admitted, delivered kicks to the head, whereas Mr Mildren, you have only admitted delivering kicks to the body and the Court has always treated kicks to the head as more serious. 

4.        It was noteworthy in your walking away that you really did not care about him at all, you just left him, he could have been very severely injured, he was severely injured, and actually the Court noted that in the mitigation that was put to us, there was no sign of remorse there at all, you did not tell your counsel to tell us that you were sorry for what you have done.  But you certainly should be.  If you read the victim personal statements that the two victims have made, it shows what an impact your assault had, particularly on the second victim, and if you have not read them then I suggest you do because that may help you in the future and it will explain why the Court takes the view that it does about offences of this kind.  You are not being sentenced for anything other than what you have done and it is the victims who receive the sympathy of this Court.  I say that because it is clear that both of you have had some difficulties in your lives so far; we understand that and we understand that things have not necessarily gone well but at the end of the day it is the victims who get the first sympathy and you must appreciate that is the way we approach this case. 

5.        The Court has a policy of imposing a custodial sentence whenever there is a drunken grave and criminal assault in public at night and that is just what we are faced with here so in our view there is no question at all but a custodial sentence is right.  Then we have looked at the nature of the assault that you have committed and we think that the starting point in relation to that assault was rightly taken for Mr Le Clercq and was rightly taken by the Crown at 4 years' imprisonment.  Because we do not see such a disparity between Mr Le Clercq and Mr Mildren we think the starting point, Mr Mildren, was 3 years and 6 months' imprisonment in your case and we have therefore looked at the mitigation that you have to see what is the appropriate discount to make. 

6.        You pleaded guilty and you are entitled to credit for that and those two guilty pleas are definitely in your favour.  They came very late, and they do also tend to show that there is no obvious sign of remorse, but you have mitigation for that.  We have taken into account all that is in the background reports and in the psychological reports.  They have limited impact.  There is no question, you both know you do not go around assaulting people.  You know that, and so the difficulties you have and those psychological problems that you have are mitigation but they do not take away from your culpability.  We have certainly read carefully all the references that have been given to us.  Now I would like to say something about those.  What those references tell us is that despite the grave and criminal assaults that you have just admitted committing that you are being sentenced for now, you both have some very good characteristics.  That is not unusual, the Court often is faced with people who have good things to say about them as well as the offences which they have committed so we sentence you for what you have done but we recognise that you have good things in both of you and what you must do is take advantage of the facilities that you will find at prison, help that you can get in prison during this time that you are there and that will perhaps help you from staying out of trouble in the future. 

7.        Taking all these things into account we think that the Crown's conclusions in relation to Mr Le Clercq are correct and accordingly you are sentenced to 6 months' imprisonment on Count 1; 3 years and 6 months' on Count 2 and Count 3 and the two sentences on Counts 2 and 3 run concurrently with each other but consecutive to Count 1, making a total of 4 years' imprisonment. 

8.        Mr Mildren, in your case, taking the starting point of 3 years and 6 months' on Counts 2 and 3, we think the right sentence is 3 years' imprisonment in relation to those two counts and you are sentenced to 3 years on each of those counts, concurrently, making a total of 3 years' imprisonment. 

9.        The problem very much was your intake of alcohol and you certainly need to have regard to that for the future.  For that reason we are also going to impose an Exclusion Order which will run for a period of 18 months from the date of your release from prison.  You are excluded from all 1^st, 2^nd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th category licensed premises excluding the Multiplex Cinema, Jersey Airport and the ferry terminal at Elizabeth Harbour. 

10.      Finally we have considered the question of a Compensation Order and we think that the sentences imposed and the Exclusion Order imposed is a sufficient penalty for you.  There is too much uncertainty around your future earning and therefore we are not going to make a Compensation Order and the victim will have to make his claim to the Criminal Injuries Compensation Board. 

11.      The Probation Order is discharged. 

Authorities

Gill-v-AG [1999] JLR Note 18C.

Gill-v-AG 1999/160.

AG-v-Lunn [2015] JRC 151.

Harrison-v-AG [2004] JLR 111.

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

AG-v-Krawczyk [2008] JRC 219.