Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - breach of restraining order.

[2016]JRC199C

Royal Court

(Samedi)

4 November 2016

The Attorney General

-v-

Daniel Charles Cornish

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

Age:  43.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

On 27^th February, 2012, the defendant was convicted of harassment of the victim.  The Magistrate made a 10 year restraining order which prohibited the defendant from having any contact with the victim, or attending at her home address. 

Between January 2013 and April 2013 he was convicted of six separate breaches of the restraining order.  All of the incidents involved the defendant having direct contact with the victim and one occasion also involved him attending at her home address.  The defendant was sentenced to a period of imprisonment in respect of each breach.  

The defendant and his ex-partner informed the authorities that they wished to rekindle their relationship, which led to the restraining order being revoked by the Magistrate in April 2013.  

On 11^th February, 2014, the defendant was convicted of a grave and criminal assault on the victim.  Two days later, the defendant was also convicted of harassing the victim.  The Magistrate made a 10 year restraining order which prohibited the defendant from having any contact with the victim, or attending at her home address. 

Between April 2015 and June 2016, the defendant was convicted of three separate breaches of the restraining order.  All of the incidents involved the defendant having direct contact with the victim (either in person or by telephone), and one occasion also involved the defendant attending at the victim's home address.  The defendant was sentenced to a period of imprisonment in respect of the first breach.  He was sentenced to community service in respect of the latter two breaches.  

On 6^th July, 2016, the victim provided a statement to the States of Jersey Police in which she explained that the defendant had turned up at her address uninvited.  She stated that they then began drinking together in her kitchen.  After a couple of hours, they began to argue and had an altercation.  

In interview, the defendant denied having any contact with the victim or attending at her address.  However, he admitted the same in a statement he subsequently provided to the States of Jersey Police.  

The breach of the restraining order amounted to a breach of the Community Service Order imposed by the Magistrate on 27^th June, 2016.  The defendant had not completed any of the 120 hours' Community Service. 

Details of Mitigation:

Early guilty plea.  The Crown accepted that on occasions the victim had encouraged the defendant to breach the restraining order. 

Previous Convictions:

Poor record of more than forty offences including several convictions for assaulting the victim, two convictions for harassing her, and nine convictions for breaching restraining orders. 

Conclusions:

Breach of Community Service Order: 6 months' imprisonment, consecutive. 

Total: 13 months' imprisonment. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Breach of Community Service Order: 6 months' imprisonment consecutive.  

Total: 13 months' imprisonment. 

M. R. Maletroit, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate P. S. Landick for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You are to be sentenced today for the breach of a restraining order made under the Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment)(Jersey) Law 2008.  The offence was committed on the 6^th July and in committing this offence you placed yourself in breach of a Community Service Order.  We do not need to go into the full details of the offending.  This is a complex matter, and you were in a relationship with the victim and have been in such a relationship since 2008.  It has been described in the papers as an on/off relationship and it was clear that it was a volatile one and involved both excessive consumption of alcohol and, as a result, violence from time to time. 

2.        This is far from being your first breach, but there have been mixed messages.  Sometimes you had been encouraged by the victim in your breach and sometimes not.  In any event though, although the victim allowed you into her accommodation on this occasion, this was nonetheless a flagrant breach of the order of the Court, and you have a quite dreadful record.  There is a whole list of similar type of offending and many examples where you have not responded to all of the non-custodial alternatives that the Court has tried. 

3.        We note the mitigation in this case, specifically your guilty plea, but it cannot be said that you were co-operative with the police and gave frank admissions, instead you gave a misleading account initially.  We note the contents of your letter and we see in it some cause for optimism, but nonetheless it is clear that there is a high risk of failure attendant on any community order that the Court might make.  We do not think that it is any longer open to us to make a Community Service Order, or to deal with this other than realistically by a term of imprisonment.  This breach, as I have said, is a flagrant one and one of a sequence of many breaches in the past of which you have been given the opportunity to deal with the matter in the community. 

4.        We think the Crown's conclusions are correct and you are sentenced to 7 months' imprisonment for the current breach and 6 months' imprisonment, consecutive, for breach of the Community Service Order, making a total of 13 months' imprisonment. 

Authorities

Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment)(Jersey) Law 2008. 

AG-v-Amy [2015] JRC 148.