Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - grave and criminal assault - perverting the course of justice

[2020]JRC129

Royal Court

(Samedi)

3 July 2020

Before     :

R. J. MacRae, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Thomas and Austin-Vautier

The Attorney General

-v-

John Philip Doran

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

1 count of:	Grave and Criminal Assault (Count 1).
1 count of:	Attempting to Pervert the Course of Justice (Count 2).

Age:  42.

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

The defendant committed a grave and criminal assault on his then partner, on the evening of 28^th December, 2019.  After hearing his daughter squeal in pain during treatment by the complainant for an ailment, the defendant went into the bedroom and told the complainant to leave their daughter alone.  The defendant left the room and the complainant again tried alleviate her daughter's continued discomfort.  Following another squeal of pain from the daughter the defendant entered the room called the complainant a 'nonce' and a 'pervert' and removed their daughter from her bedroom.  The defendant and the complainant were arguing about the treatment of their daughter.  During the argument, the defendant gesticulated causing the complainant to step back to avoid him.  As she did she hit her head on a small shelf.  The defendant grabbed the shelf and pushed it against the wall.  The defendant pushed the complainant away and put his hands on her neck.  The complainant ended up on the floor and the defendant put his knee on her elbow.  The defendant then let the complainant up and she called the police.

 

After being brought before the Magistrate's Court for the grave and criminal assault, the defendant was placed on bail which included the condition not to contact the complainant.  The defendant sent three Facebook messages to the complainant's mother including one which asked for the complainant to retract her statement and implying their daughter might end up in care.  The complainant's mother contacted the police after the above message was sent and the defendant was arrested for attempting to pervert the course of justice.

Details of Mitigation:

Remorse, expression of guilt.  Psychological Report reports that he has symptoms of PTSD.

Previous Convictions:

No previous relevant convictions. 

Conclusions:

Count 1:	12 months' imprisonment.
Count 2:	12 months' imprisonment, consecutive.

Total:  2 years' imprisonment.

Restraining order sought for an indeterminate period in the following terms.

1. The defendant shall not contact directly or indirectly nor via third parties the complainant or her daughter unless such contact is via his lawyers or in all other cases has been approved by the Royal Court;

2. The defendant shall not enter any part of the premises known to him to be a nursery, school or other care provider that the complainant's daughter is attending, or loiter within 100 feet thereof, except where such entry has been approved by the Royal Court;

3. The defendant shall not enter any part of the premises known to him to be the home address of the complainant, or loiter within 100 feet thereof;

4. The defendant shall not enter any part of the premises known to him to be the work address of the complainant, or loiter within 100 feet thereof;

5. Should the Defendant come into contact with the complainant her daughter in any public or private place, where such contact has not been approved by the Royal Court, he must take action to avoid any breach of the order by removing himself from the situation as soon as reasonably possible.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:	9 months' imprisonment converted to Community Service Order.
Count 2:	9 months' imprisonment, consecutive, converted to Community Service Order

Total:  18 months' imprisonment, converted to 240 hours' Community Service Order, together with a Probation Order for 18 months. 

Restraining order made for a period of 5 years from the date of sentence in the terms set out by the Crown, save that distances specified as 50 metres instead of 100 feet. 

Compensation order made in the sum of £1,000 to be paid at a rate £100 per month, or 10 weeks' imprisonment in default.

Ms E. L. Hollywood, Crown Advocate.

Advocate M. P. Boothman for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        John Doran you are 42 years old and have pleaded guilty to 2 offences, an offence of grave and criminal assault on your former partner and an offence of attempting to pervert the course of justice arising out of an attempt to prevent your former partner from pursuing her complaint of assault against you.

2.        The assault occurred on 28^th December, 2019, when you were at home with your partner and the 4 year old girl that you shared with her your 4 year old daughter.  There was an argument in respect of the way in which you daughter should be cared for that night.  The details of that argument do not matter and, in any event, are no mitigation but in your daughter's bedroom you shouted at your partner.  Your partner was so concerned that she stepped away from you and hit her head on a shelf.  You grabbed the shelf as it began to fall which led her to fear that you were going to assault her.  You pushed her and put your arm and hands round her neck causing bruising on her neck, such was the force that you were exerting upon it.  You pulled her off the bed and then as she tried to get away from you, this time she was on the floor, you kneeled on her elbow.  You left her with bruising to her neck jaw and shin.  The doctor who examined your partner said that the bruising pattern to the neck was consistent with a right handed person placing a thumb on the left side of the neck and three fingers on the right side of the neck. 

3.        This sort of violence in the home is unacceptable and, worse still, your 4 year old daughter witnessed part of this assault on her own mother in her own home and had to be video interviewed by the police in the course of their investigation.  During the assault your partner felt terrified.  She knew that you were much stronger than her and did not know how far you would go.  She called the police and when they arrived they described you as being "agitated".  When you were interviewed you made no comment and initially pleaded not guilty when you were presented before the Magistrate's Court.  That plea was indicated on 16^th January, 2020, and you were released by the Magistrate on bail on condition that you had no contact direct or indirect with your former partner.  You broke these bail conditions, which is a serious aggravating feature, and less than a month later on 2^nd March, 2020 you sent a Facebook message to our partner's mother.  We have seen a transcript of this message which was particularly unpleasant and your counsel accepted the Court's description of it is cruel.  You suggested that your ex-partner would be arrested, that your daughter would be placed into care and this could only be prevented if your victim retracted her statement.  You were charged with perverting the course of justice on 12^th March, 2020 and have been remanded in custody since. 

4.        We give you credit for your guilty plea and have read the references submitted on your behalf.  In particular we have read the report of Dr Boucher, a clinical phycologist, and what she says about the effect of a custodial sentence upon you.  The Court has made it clear in other cases that violence in the home is unacceptable and such conduct is even graver where a child is witness to it.  We have seen the victim personal statement of your former partner and note that a consequence of this offending, because the property in which you lived was in your name, she finds herself as a homeless single mother trying to come to terms with the knowledge that she was a victim of an unprovoked and violent assault in her own home in front of her child.  She deserves the Court's sympathy and the Court's protection. 

5.        We are going to make a restraining order against you.  We note under Article 5 of the Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment) (Jersey) Law 2008 that the Court is entitled to make an order "if the court is satisfied on the balance of probabilities that it is appropriate to do so for the purpose of protecting the victim of the offence, or any other person named in the order" and we think that it is appropriate to protect both your ex-partner and your child, knowing that the last time you saw your child was when you were assaulting her mother.  And accordingly we make a restraining order sought by the Crown for a period of 5 years.

"1. The defendant shall not contact directly or indirectly nor via third parties the complainant or her daughter unless such contact is via his lawyers or in all other cases has been approved by the Royal Court;

2. The defendant shall not enter any part of the premises known to him to be a nursery, school or other care provider that the complainant's daughter is attending, or loiter within 50 meters thereof, except where such entry has been approved by the Royal Court;

3. The defendant shall not enter any part of the premises known to him to be the home address of the complainant, or loiter within 50 meters thereof;

4. The defendant shall not enter any part of the premises known to him to be the work address of the complainant, or loiter within 50 meters feet thereof;

5. Should the Defendant come into contact with the complainant her daughter in any public or private place, where such contact has not been approved by the Royal Court, he must take action to avoid any breach of the order by removing himself from the situation as soon as reasonably possible."

The order shall remain in place for 5 years and any breach of the order is an offence punishable with imprisonment of up to 2 years.

6.        As to the offence of perverting the course of justice, this is a serious matter.  All victims and witnesses must know that they will be protected from those who seek to intimidate them from giving evidence.  There is a strong public interest in the victims of crime receiving the full protection of the Court, and as the Court said in the AG v Dominguez [2020] JRC 010, "Perpetrators of domestic abuse must understand that attempts to intimidate or persuade their victims not to give evidence will be dealt with severely by the courts."

7.        Mr Doran, we have considered your case with care, we note that you have no relevant criminal convictions, that you have expressed what the Probation Officer describes as genuine remorse, and that according to Dr Boucher you are suffering from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder connected at least in part from your time of active service with the army.  We give you credit for the fact that you have in the past risked your life for the public good and we note that between 2003 and 2013 you were an active reservist with the army and dedicated most of your life to the army during that period.  We have been impressed by the reference from Lieutenant Colonel Spratley who described you as a loyal and disciplined Junior Non Commissioned Officer, as a superb role model and who, during operational tours experienced the full horrors of conflict and performed in an exemplary manner, and we have read about your two back to back tours in Iraq and your two tours of Afghanistan in 2006 and 2013.  We have read details of those tours and we accept that they were extremely challenging and difficult. 

8.        You have also spent three months in custody which we hope has been a salutary lesson to you.  Because of the circumstances we have described we are able to impose a non-custodial sentence today.  But you should understand Mr Doran that you came very close indeed to a custodial sentence today.  The Court was attracted by the Defence suggestion that you should in any event receive a custodial sentence on Count 2 owing to the seriousness of that offence and to reflect the time you have spent in custody, but we are not persuaded that is possible, for two reasons.  Firstly 6 months' imprisonment would be too short for that offence and secondly we do not think it would be appropriate to pass a custodial sentence at the same time as a non-custodial one. 

9.        We agree with the Crown that the sentences in relation to these two offences should be consecutive to each other and had we imposed a custodial sentence today we would have sentenced you to 9 months' imprisonment on Count 1 and 9 months' imprisonment on Count 2 making a total of 18 months' imprisonment.  The direct alternative to custody is Community Service and the alternative to 18 months' imprisonment by way of Community Service is 240 hours and accordingly we make an order for 240 Community Service concurrent on each count making a total of 240 hours. 

10.      We also make a Probation Order of 18 months duration on each Count making a total of 18 months and we hope that you derive the assistance from the Probation Order that you will be offered and also undergo the psychotherapy to address your symptoms of Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder recommended from Dr Boucher which we know the Probation Service will assist in arranging.

11.      We also order you to pay £1,000 compensation towards your victim to be payable at the rate of £100 per month. In default of making any payment you will be liable to up to 10 weeks imprisonment. 

12.      So we are relying on you to comply with the order made by the Court.  We emphasise how close you were to receiving a custodial sentence today. 

13.      We order disclosure of the report of Dr Boucher as sought by the Probation Service at paragraph 32. 

Authorities

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

AG v Dominguez [2020] JRC 010. 

AG v Crabtree [2017] JRC 143

AG v Duffy [2017] JRC 131

AG v Dias [2017] JRC 114

AG v Gallie [2017] JRC 104

Harrison v AG [2004] JLR 111.