Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - grave and criminal assault.

[2022]JRC032

Royal Court

(Samedi)

4 February 2022

Before     :

R. J. MacRae, Esq., Deputy Bailiff, and Jurats Ronge and Hughes.

The Attorney General

-v-

Myles Robert Killen

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

1 count of:

Grave and criminal assault (Count 1).

Age:  22.

Plea:  Guilty.

Details of Offence:

At approximately 11:00 p.m. on 26^th June 2021, the Defendant and the 17-year-old male Victim were at a house party.  The majority of those at the party were teenagers.  The Defendant approached the victim to confront him about an argument the Victim had had with a 17-year-old girl.  The Victim referred to girl as a "bitch".  The Defendant immediately became aggressive with the Victim, who was sitting down.  

 

The Victim began to stand up and the Defendant struck him with a bottle to the top of his head.  The bottle smashed and the Victim fell to the ground.  The Defendant was pulled away from the Victim and ran out of the house.  

 

The Victim was taken to the Jersey General Hospital in an ambulance.  He sustained a cut to his ear and was discharged after treatment the same night.  The skin on his head was not broken, although there was a cut to his ear lobe.  

 

The Defendant was interviewed whereby he accepted hitting the Victim over the head with a glass Vodka bottle.

The Victim completed an impact statement wherein he described that the assault had left him feeling anxious and scared of going out in public on nights out.  He experienced daily migraines and headaches for a period of three months as a result of the assault but sustained no permanent physical injuries.

 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty pleas, no previous convictions.  Defendant was 21 years old at the time of the offence and therefore not treated as a young offender. 

Previous Convictions:

None.

Conclusions:

Count 1:

312 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent of 2 years' imprisonment.

Total:  312 hours' Community Service Order.

Compensation Order sought for the victim in the sum of £850, 3 weeks' imprisonment in default.

No order for costs sought.

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:

240 hours' Community Service Order, equivalent to 18 months' imprisonment.

Total:  240 hours' Community Service Order.

Compensation Order made for the victim in the sum of £850, to be paid immediately or 3 weeks' imprisonment in default.    

Costs Order made in the sum of £1,000 towards the Prosecution costs. 

Total sum of £1,850 to be paid within 28 days from today. 

Crown Advocate L. B. Hallam. 

Advocate D. S. Steenson for the Defendant. 

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        Myles Killen you can remain seated.  You are 22 years old and you were 21 when you committed this largely unprovoked assault on a 17 year old male (who you had not met before) at a party when you were very drunk, smashing a bottle over his head resulting an injury to his ear.  You had drunk a third of bottle of gin which is an aggravating feature of your offending.  The probation officer said that when the victim fell to the ground after you had hit him on the head with a bottle, he was possibly unconscious.  The victim, said he was knocked out.  Your reaction was to run away, not to offer any help to the man you just injured with a weapon.  

2.        We agree with the probation officer that it was fortunate that your victim did not sustain more severe injuries.  As to the effect on your victim, he is now concerned about going out in public.  He had some time off work; his sleep has been affected and he has experienced headaches and migraines that he did not have hitherto. 

3.        Since the incident, you have been diagnosed with autism and ADHD which may have contributed to your offending on the night in question.  You now have a better insight into your behaviour the probation officer says.  We have seen from your letters to us that you demonstrate genuine remorse, particularly for the members of your family who you have let down.  Your mother and father are in court today.

4.        Your mental health has deteriorated since your offending.  You have been prescribed anti-depressants by a psychiatrist.  It is said, and we fully accept, that you are at low risk of reconviction. 

5.        We repeat that the policy of the Courts is crystal clear; the use of a glass or a bottle as a weapon leads to the imposition of a custodial sentence unless there are exceptional circumstances.  But there are, we are satisfied, exceptional circumstances in your case.  Not merely your guilty plea and good character - they are commonplace - but this offence was not only wholly out of and against your general character.  We have read a number of letters written on your behalf.  Dr Journeaux, who has known you most of your life, describes you as a person who has grown from a shy child to an introverted young man with a "strong sense of right and wrong."  You were bullied at school because of the way you present.  You have struggled to fit in socially and clearly exhibit characteristics that fit in with high functioning autism spectrum disorder.  As such, your social development has been impaired and you have difficulties communicating with others.  You do not find socialising easy, and for a variety of reasons (as revealed by the witness statements) you impulsively reacted to a situation you found yourself in because you simply could not cope, and the reasons that you could not cope relate to your poor impulse and motor control, lack of understanding of social cues and other matters concomitant with the disorders from which you suffer. 

6.        Your father tells us in his letter that since this offence you have become withdrawn and, except from attending college, have rarely left your room.   The incident has had a profound effect upon you and your whole family, and he describes you, and we accept not merely because he is your father but because what he has said is supported by so many other people who have written on your behalf, that you are a good person with excellent qualities and high moral standards and you made a one-off mistake, mitigated but not excused by undiagnosed mental health issues.  So, for that reason we are going to impose a community service order, which is a direct alternative to a custodial sentence of 18 months. 

7.        You will perform 240 hours of community service.  In addition, you will pay £850.00 by way of compensation to your victim.  If you fail to do so you are liable to a prison sentence of three weeks. 

8.        You will pay a £1,000.00 towards the prosecution costs of £3,800.00.  You will be required to pay £1,850.00 within 28 days of today. 

9.        We hope that you can put this behind you, continue with your studies and take advantage of the assistance you are being given by Dr Kaushal and others in order to ensure that if you are ever confronted by a situation remotely similar to the one you were confronted last year then you make different decisions.  

Authorities

Harrison v AG [2004] JLR 111.

AG v Aubert [2018] JRC 195.

AG v Poingdestre [2018] JRC 029.

AG v O'Shea [2010] JRC 040.

AG v Saville [2007] JRC 110.

Sentencing Council Guidelines - Suggest starting points for physical and mental injuries.

Criminal Justice (Compensation Orders) (Jersey) Law 1994.