Jersey Unreported Judgments

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

[2017]JRC131

Royal Court

(Samedi)

18 August 2017

Before     :

T. J. Le Cocq, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Blampied and Ronge.

The Attorney General

-v-

Andrew Sean Duffy

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

2 counts of:	Common assault (Counts 1 and 2).
1 count of:	Grave and criminal assault (Count 3).
1 count of:	Affray (Count 4).

Age:  49.

Plea: Guilty.

Details of Offence:

The defendant committed varying unprovoked assaults on his then partner over the course of two days.  He then committed an affray when police officers were called to his home. 

On Friday 21^st April, 2017, the defendant, who lived with his partner, had been drinking alcohol throughout the day (six or seven cans of lager and a quarter of a bottle of white wine).  That night he was playing his music loudly which prevented his partner from being able to sleep.  When she asked him to turn down the volume he shouted at her and stamped on one of her left toes, causing her to limp.  He then became aggressive towards his partner, who was frightened and went upstairs to get away.  The defendant followed her, called her a "Fucking slut" and spat at her (the spit missed her) (Count 1). 

On Saturday 22^nd April, 2007, his partner got up and left the house.  She sent the defendant an email telling him to book a flight home and the relationship was over.  She received a telephone call from the defendant telling her to return home.  When she eventually went home the defendant told her that she did not really want him to leave but she replied that she did.  He clenched his fists and moved towards his partner, who thought he was going to hit her.  She ran upstairs to get away.  The defendant followed her, cornered her in the bedroom, told her that he hated her and punched her on each of her arms approximately four times in total (Count 2). 

The defendant left the house after telling his partner she would not see him again.  He went drinking in town had five pints and a Sambuca.  His partner booked a flight and sent the details to him, believing she would not see him again.  She later received a series of missed calls from the defendant and then a voicemail message, in which he said "Come home now, I'm getting in your house".  He was outside the house and kicked the door open.  His partner ran into the kitchen to get away from the defendant, who followed her.  He punched her to the back of her head, causing her to fall into a kitchen work top.  He then kicked her in the buttock, again causing her to fall, and punched her four times to her head, several times to her arms and three times to her back.  He then punched her in the kidney, kicked her and grabbed her hair, pulled it on to the work surface and unsuccessfully tried to saw her hair off with a butter knife (Count 3). 

His partner managed to escape and ran out of the house screaming for help to the nearest neighbour, who called the police.  His partner was left with swelling to the head, bruises on the arms, bruising to the ribs and bruising to the foot with a tear in the skin as a result of the assaults. 

Police officers were deployed to the property.  The defendant was stood in the doorway with his arms crossed on their arrival.  Police Officer 1 had his hand on his PAVA spray.  The defendant went into the house, looked out of the doorway, pointed his finger at Police Officer 1 and aggressively shouted at him saying "Don't put that fucking thing near me".  Police Officer 1 told the defendant to calm down and come outside.  The defendant told the officers to "Fuck off" before going back inside the house.  The defendant then shot out into the hallway holding a kitchen knife in each hand, one with a blade of 8 - 10 inches and the other of approximately 3 inches.  He walked towards Police Officer 1 and aggressively smashed the knife blades together.  Police Officer 1 withdrew from the property.  The defendant walked quickly out of the house towards Police Officers 1, 2 and 3, pointing knife at them and saying "I am going to kill you". 

The defendant walked out onto the communal grass area, in full view of the other houses.  There were 4 - 5 young children approximately 20 metres away.  The Police Officers believed that they were going to be attacked.  The defendant continued to walk towards Police Officer 1 with the point of the larger knife aimed at him.  Police Officer 1 retreated to his police car for protection but the defendant followed him to the car, opened the passenger door and said words to the effect of "keep that running."  The defendant then walked backwards to the doorway of the house.  He held the larger kitchen knife to his neck, implying that he was going to cut himself.  He then threatened to kill the three officers saying words to the effect of "I'll fucking have you" and "I've got two guns" (Officers subsequently found replica guns at the house but these did not belong to the defendant).  Police Officer 1 continued to tell the defendant to put the knives down at which point the defendant approached the police car again.  The defendant then raised both his hands in the air and said words to the effect of "...I've come to my senses".  He threw both of the kitchen knives to the ground, got onto the ground and was then arrested.  A nearby neighbour observed the incident from his kitchen window.  He and his partner were shocked and concerned for the defendant's partner and his young daughter was visibly scared (Count 4). 

The defendant described himself to police officers as an alcoholic and blamed his actions on alcohol and anti-depressants. 

Details of Mitigation:

Early guilty plea, letter of apology indicating shame at behaviour, letters from supportive family members, personal mitigation due to bereavement of wife which led to him relying on alcohol to cope.  Moved to Jersey to be with partner but had found it hard to find employment or housing. 

Previous Convictions:

Previous convictions but a caution for assaulting a former partner in 2012 in a domestic-related incident.

Conclusions:

Count 1:	1 month's imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 2:	4 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 3:	15 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Count 4.
Count 4:	15 months' imprisonment.

Total: 30 months' imprisonment.

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

Restraining Order sought for a period of 5 years from date of sentencing with the following conditions:

(i)             The defendant is prohibited from having any contact, direct or indirect, with the complainant;

(ii)            The defendant is prohibited from approaching or following the complainant;

(iii)           The defendant is prohibited from loitering within 50 metres of any premises known to him to be the home address of the complainant;

(iv)           The defendant is prohibited from entering any part of the premises known to him to be the work address of the complainant or loitering within 50 metres thereof; and

(v)            Should the defendant see or come into contact with the complainant in any public or private place he must take immediate action to avoid any breach of this Order.

This order shall remain in place for a period of 5 years.

Any breach of this order shall be an offence for which the defendant will be liable to imprisonment for up to 2 years and to a fine.

Forfeiture and destruction of the knives sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:	4 months' imprisonment.
Count 2:	4 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 3:	15 months' imprisonment, concurrent.
Count 4:	15 months' imprisonment, consecutive.

Total: 30 months' imprisonment. 

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

Restraining Order made for a period of 5 years from date of sentencing with the following conditions:

(i)      The defendant is prohibited from having any contact, direct or indirect, with the complainant;

(ii)     The defendant is prohibited from approaching or following the complainant;

(iii)     The defendant is prohibited from loitering within 50 metres of any premises known to him to be the home address of the complainant;

(iv)     The defendant is prohibited from entering any part of the premises known to him to be the work address of the complainant or loitering within 50 metres thereof; and

(v)      Should the defendant see or come into contact with the complainant in any public or private place he must take immediate action to avoid any breach of this Order.

This order shall remain in place for a period of 5 years.

Any breach of this order shall be an offence for which the defendant will be liable to imprisonment for up to 2 years and to a fine.

Forfeiture and destruction of the knives ordered.

Ms E. L. Hollywood, Crown Advocate.

Advocate J. N. Heywood for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You are to be sentenced today for two counts of common assault, one of grave and criminal assault and one of affray.  All of those counts were alcohol-fuelled and the assaults were part of a course of domestic violence carried out by you on your then partner. 

2.        As the Court has said on many occasions it takes incidents of domestic violence very seriously indeed.  A person is entitled to feel safe in their own home. 

3.        The affray also was particularly serious involving as it did threats with knives against police officers who were going about their public duty and the Court has, on many occasions, also said that in general it marks such offences with a term of imprisonment. 

4.        We do not need to go into the detail of this offending, that has been set out fully in the summary given by the Crown, but this was undoubtedly a terrifying experience for your former partner and others who witnessed it. 

5.        We have considered carefully the reports and we note the difficulties that you have faced.  We have read your letter and those of your father and son and others carefully and we understand that there is another side to your character that shows when alcohol is not involved.  You have the benefit of an early guilty plea, which is of real value in a case such as this, and you have the benefit of your full cooperation. 

6.        Nevertheless, the public must be protected and the offences, which are serious, must receive an appropriate sanction.  We were, as you may have heard when the Court came in, considering increasing the conclusions moved for by the Crown but in the light of the mitigation that has been communicated to us both by your counsel and within the letters and the reports we think, instead, that we will largely impose the sentence that the Crown has moved for in its conclusions.  We will make some variation to Count 1 to reflect the Court's view of the seriousness but that will not affect the overall sentence. 

7.        We impose an Exclusion Order in the terms sought by the Crown, you are accordingly excluded from 1^st, 2^nd, 3^rd, 4^th, 5^th and 7^th Category licenced premises excluding the Multiplex Cinema, the Arts Centre, the Airport, the Ferry Terminal and the Opera House for a period of 12 months to take effect on the day on which you are released from prison. 

8.        In the light of the effect on your former partner we also impose a Restraining Order in the terms sought by the Crown to run for a period of 5 years from today. 

9.        As I have said, we propose to sentence along the lines proposed by the Crown with this exception: with regard to Count 1 you are sentenced to 4 months' imprisonment to run concurrent with Count 3, for Count 2; 4 months' imprisonment to run concurrent with Count 3, Count 3; 15 months' imprisonment to run consecutively to Count 4 and Count 4; 15 months' imprisonment to run consecutively, a total of 30 months' imprisonment.

10.      We order the forfeiture and destruction of the knives. 

Authorities

AG-v-Crabtree [2014] JRC 165A.

AG-v-Smale [2011] JRC 156A.

AG-v-Heard [2012] JRC 132.

AG-v-Da Silva [2016] JRC 046.

AG-v-Mears [2008] JRC 217.

AG-v-Horn [2010] JRC 104.

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

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