Jersey Unreported Judgments

Superior Number Sentencing - Grave and criminal assault.

[2021]JRC315

Royal Court

(Samedi)

13 December 2021

Before     :

R. J. MacRae, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Dulake, Averty and Cornish

The Attorney General

-v-

Lisa Michelle Vieira De Sousa

Sentencing by the Superior Number of the Royal Court, to which the accused was remanded by the Inferior Number on 15^th October, 2021, following a guilty plea to the following charge:

1 count of:

Grave and Criminal Assault (Count 1).

Age:  38. 

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

The Defendant stabbed her partner during an argument.  Police were called to the address where they found the Victim on the floor at the threshold of the flat with a stab wound to his lower back.  The Defendant was being aggressive and non-compliant with officers so was tasered and then cautioned and arrested.

 

The Victim was taken to hospital and was initially stable with a CT scan being done which showed a superficial wound with no internal organs affected.  Later that same day his health declined due to a haematoma and he had to be placed in a medically induced coma.

 

The Defendant was interviewed and denied stabbing the victim and answered no comment to the rest of the questions posed.  She pleaded guilty on indictment to the grave and criminal assault on a basis.  That basis was rejected by the Crown and a further basis provided which whilst was not accepted was determined not to make a material difference to sentence and the matter progressed to sentencing.

Details of Mitigation:

Benefit of guilty plea, personal mitigation as highlighted in the Pre-Sentence Report.

Previous Convictions:

The Defendant has 44 offences recorded against her, including two previous convictions on 24^th February 2020 for two common assaults against the Victim.

 

At the time of this offence the Defendant was subject to a non-custodial sentence in relation to an illegal entry and larceny which she had been sentenced to a 1 year Probation Order and 180 hours' Community Service Order.

Conclusions:

Count 1:

4 years and 6 months' imprisonment.

Breach of Community Service Order:  Revoke the Community Service Order and impose 9 months' imprisonment, consecutive to Count 1 of the Indictment.  Probation Order to be discharged with no separate penalty.

Total:  5 years and 3 months' imprisonment. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:

4 years' imprisonment.

Breach of Community Service Order:  Community Service Order revoked and 9 months' imprisonment imposed, consecutive to Count 1 of the Indictment.  Probation Order to be discharged with no separate penalty.

Total:  4 years and 9 months' imprisonment. 

Restraining Order made pursuant to Article 5 of the Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment) (Jersey) Law 2008 in respect of the Victim, for a period of 5 years from the date of the Defendant's release from prison in the terms sought. 

M. Temple Esq., Attorney General.

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

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        Lisa de Sousa, you are 38 years old and have previous convictions, including convictions for violence.  On 26^th April 2021, you stabbed your then partner in the back.  You were at the address of a mutual friend when your then partner and another came to the flat.  You had been drinking vodka.  You started arguing with your partner and a woman on the premises who wished you to  leave with them. 

2.        You deliberately armed yourself with a large knife in order to intimidate your partner and the woman.  You used the knife to push your partner across the room, holding it in your right hand.  As you did so, your pushing caused your partner to turn around so that his back was facing you, and at the same time you pushed the knife into his back, penetrating his sweatshirt, his t-shirt and his body.  The knife was taken from you after you had caused this injury.  It was a kitchen knife with a blade and black handle about 12 inches in length. 

3.        When you were interviewed by the police you denied the offence saying that you loved your partner very much and that someone else has stabbed him.  This was plainly untrue.  When the police arrived at the premises, they found your partner lying on the floor, conscious but distressed with a deep laceration, 1 to 2 inches in length, in his back.  You were aggressive when the police arrived, the police needed to deploy a taser, striking you in your chest and leg in order to arrest you.  Your partner was taken to hospital and subsequently as a consequence of the injury he sustained he was placed in an induced coma and only discharged from hospital two weeks later.

4.        In February 2020, you were placed on probation for assaulting the same partner, again when drunk. In July 2020, you were sentenced to 12 months' probation and 180 hours' Community Service for offences of illegal entry and larceny by this Court.  Your offending was during the currency of that 12 month Probation Order, and the Community Service element of that order is not complete as you have only completed 45 hours.  You started the order late as a consequence of an injury you had and Covid restrictions, but it is your offending which has led to you not to complete that order, and we see when you placed on Probation and given Community Service by the Royal Court last year that you were told that the sentence that was imposed was equivalent to a 12 month prison sentence and secondly you were told by the Bailiff that the Court was giving you "one last chance". 

5.        Owing to your non-engagement, breach of orders and the limited effectiveness of the orders imposed hitherto, the Probation Service say that a further community disposal in your case would be "difficult to manage". 

6.        You have a chronic involvement with alcohol and controlled drugs, and alcohol was involved in this offence.  You are at high risk of reoffending, including a high risk of committing further offences within an intimate relationship.  Your probation records indicate a history of intimate partner violence, by which we mean domestic abuse, including over 30 police callouts during the course of your relationship with your victim in this case and previous partners.  Overall we regard this as an unprovoked assault against your partner.  He was shocked that you stabbed him and has been left physically and mentally scarred by the assault.  He has been referred to the pain clinic is on various medications for the pain and nerve damage and needed to give up work that he had obtained as bending over and lifting was painful. 

7.        Although you denied the offence in interview, you entered a guilty plea on your first appearance before this Court and you did so prior to 1^st October 2021.  Accordingly you are entitled to full credit for your plea, notwithstanding the fact that that basis of that plea was not accepted by the Crown. 

8.        We have had regard to your letter to the Court, all that your counsel has said on your behalf and the work you have done at the prison in order to improve your future once you are released and we note that you are in contact with the domestic abuse team which is encouraging.  But this offence, and indeed any offence involving use of a knife to cause injury is so serious that only custody can be warranted, and we refer back to the case of AG v Lawlor [2009] JRC 150 when the Court said

"The gravity of injury when a knife is used is so often a matter of chance and there is always a risk of really serious injury if not worse. The Court is determined to send out a message that those who resort to attacks with a knife will face severe sentences." 

9.        The least sentence the Court can impose in relation to the offence of grave and criminal assault is 4 years' imprisonment.  In respect of the breach of the Community Service Order we revoke that order and resentence you in relation to the offence before the Court last year to 9 months' imprisonment, consecutive, making a total of 4 years and 9 months' imprisonment.

10.      We have also been invited to consider the making of a restraining order in this case.  The relationship between you and the victim was characterised by violence, violence on both sides and in the interests of you both and the public at large that we make a restraining order which we do for the period of 5 years to run from the date of your release.  You are restrained from that date from having any contact direct or indirect  which includes social media, text, phone or email with the victim or going to his home or going to his workplace and we also, as invited by your counsel, warn the victim that if he was to encourage you to contact him he would be committing an offence as he would be aiding, abetting, counselling or procuring the commission of an offence under Article 8 of the Crime (Disorderly Conduct and Harassment) (Jersey) Law 2008. 

11.      As requested, we make an order that Dr Boucher's report be disclosed to the prison authorities. 

Authorities

AG v Lawlor [2009] JRC 150. 

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

Coehlo v AG [2020] JRC 216. 

AG v McCaffrey [2020] JRC 155. 

AG v De Sousa [2020] JRC 149. 

AG v Power [2020] JRC 091. 

AG v Crabtree [2017] JRC 143. 

AG v Livingstone [2010] JRC 028. 

Louis v AG [2010] JLR Note 45. 

Harrison v AG [2004] JLR 111. 

R v Cairns [2013] EWCA Crim 467.