Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentence - common assault.

[2019]JRC121

Royal Court

(Samedi)

28 June 2019

Before     :

T. J. Le Cocq, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Crill and Austin-Vautier.

The Attorney General

-v-

Andrew Leslie Rawlinson

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

1 count of:

Common assault (Count 1).

Age:  50. 

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

At around 12:15 pm on 2^nd February, 2019, the Victim attended an Alcoholics Anonymous meeting with her sponsor.  The meeting took longer than expected, and she called the Defendant to let him know this.  She was worried that the Defendant was annoyed and therefore delayed returning to their shared flat. 

 

At approximately 3:30 pm the Victim returned to the flat.  A disagreement broke out and the Defendant questioned the Victim over whether she had been drinking.  She became agitated and the Defendant placed his hands on her shoulders, and when this did not calm her he slapped her twice, once to either side of her face.

 

The Defendant requested that the Victim remove the engagement ring he had given her.  She refused and he attempted to remove it himself, by taking hold of her hand and trying to pull the ring free.  This was unsuccessful. 

 

The Defendant then tried to stop the Victim from leaving the address by holding her shoulders and he told her that they needed to "discuss matters further". 

 

He then took the Victim to the floor, where she continued to struggle once on the ground and he "placed his hands on either side of her face to hold her head still" and tried to make eye contact. 

 

The Defendant then moved away from the Victim, picked up a wooden stick which was next a radiator, and threw it against a wall but not towards the Complainant.

 

The Victim was then able to leave and ran from the address and she kept running until she felt safe.  She went to the Old Court House in St Aubin's and consumed two to three pints of lager.

 

At approximately 9:55 pm the Police attended the Old Court House as she had been asked to leave by staff at the bar, but had not done so.  The Victim told the Police that she had been assaulted by the Defendant after he had become angry that she was late back from her meeting.  A police officer noted reddening, bruising and grazing to the Victim's face.  The Defendant was arrested later in the evening at the flat.

 

The Victim was later found to have suffered multiple minor injuries to her face, head, right elbow and left hand.

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea. 

Previous Convictions:

18 months' imprisonment. 

Conclusions:

Count 1:

18 months; imprisonment.

Restraining order sought to commence from date of sentence for an indeterminate period in the following terms:

1.     That the Defendant be prohibited from approaching or contacting, directly or indirectly the complainant, other than any contact which is inadvertent or unavoidable;

2.      That the Defendant is prohibited from entering or loitering within 50 metres of any premises known to him to be the home address of the complainant.

3.      That the Defendant is prohibited from entering or loitering within 50 metres of any premises known to him to be the work address of the complainant.

4.      That 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.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:

12 months' imprisonment.

Restraining order made to commence from date of sentence for a period of 5 years with the conditions indicated above.

R. MacRae, Esq., Attorney General appeared for the Crown.

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

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        You are to be sentenced for a single count of common assault on your former partner on 2^nd February, 2019.  We do not think we need to set out the details of the assault, but it of course took place in the context of an argument after she returned home later than you thought had been arranged.  During the course of that argument you slapped her twice, took her to the ground and held her head.  All of these things caused injury including bruising and abrasions and we have of course seen the photographs of those injuries.

2.        This is not the first assault that you have carried out on this victim, and clearly it is an incident of domestic violence which from your record seems to characterise often your relationship with women.  We note the contents of the Social Enquiry Report referred to by the Crown in its conclusions, and the indication from it of a sense of entitlement to use violence by way of control or restraint.  We also note that there is a propensity, so it seems to us, for you to blame your victims.  Your record in this regard is a poor one.  We have read the victim's statement and it is clear that she is and remains a vulnerable women.

3.        You have pleaded guilty and you deserve full credit for a guilty plea.  We have listened with care to the submissions that your counsel has made and in particular with regard to the restraining order it seems to us that we should not make such an order for an indeterminate period.  Accordingly we make a restraining order in terms of the enhanced request made by the Attorney General but for a period of 5 years.

4.        Turning to the issue of sentence, you have been given on a number of occasions in the past the opportunity to address your offending within the context of a non-custodial disposal.  This is clearly no longer available to you.  It has failed, and inevitably you must receive a custodial sentence.  We would strongly urge you to engage with whatever help is available to you to ensure if it is possible, that you do not return before us again.  We have in mind that the longest sentence you have previously served, and indeed the last sentence you served, was one of 6 months' imprisonment, and it appears to us in the context of the basis of plea on which we sentence you a leap to 18 months' moved for by the Crown would be too high.

5.        You are accordingly sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment. 

Authorities

AG v Crabtree [2017] JRC 143. 

AG v Duffy [2017] JRC 131. 

AG v Nicolle [2018] JRC 139. 

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

Attorney General v Rawlinson, 21 August 2018, Magistrate's Court Judgment