Jersey Unreported Judgments

Inferior Number Sentencing - Motoring

[2023]JRC003

Royal Court

(Samedi)

6 January 2023

The Attorney General

-v-

James Adam Hodgson Taylor

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

Age:  21. 

Plea: Guilty. 

Details of Offence:

The Defendant drove at a male who had been walking home from the pub.

Various cars had gone past him at some speed, so the victim decided to film them.  The victim filmed the Defendant driving his car towards him fast and when the Defendant saw him he slammed on the brakes and the car came to a stop with a squealing sound from his brakes right in front of the victim.

The Defendant then reversed and then put the car into a forward gear.  The victim heard the wheels spin and, he thought the Defendant was going to hit him.  He attempted to turn but he was hit by the Defendant, rolled onto the bonnet of the Defendant's car and off the side of the bonnet. His arm became trapped in the wheel arch, and he was dragged for approximately 10 metres.

The Defendant left the scene immediately after the collision and did not attempt to help the victim nor call the police. 

He was arrested and cautioned later that evening.  On arrest the Defendant stated that the victim had jumped into the road, and he had not been able to do anything about it.  He had panicked and just wanted to get home.

The Defendant's car was impounded for examination.  It was found during the examination that the front offside tyre was found to be worn below the legal limit and a chunk of the tyre had been torn off.  The condition was likely to have been caused by aggressive driving over an unknown period.

The victim was taken to hospital and was treated for extensive loss of superficial skin on his forearms, down the left side of his chest, abdomen, and thighs.  He also had a deep laceration to the left elbow, which was sutured.

Details of mitigation:

Guilty pleas, Defendant expressed remorse in interview and provided a letter of apology to the victim.  Residual youth.

Previous convictions:

Two convictions for speeding in 2022 and a fine at Parish Hall for speeding in 2021.

Conclusions:

Total:  18 months imprisonment and 3 years disqualification from driving and retest to be ordered. 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Total:  12 months imprisonment and 3 years disqualification from driving and retest ordered. 

S. Crowder Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate S. C. Thomas for the Defendant.

JUDGMENT

THE DEPUTY BAILIFF:

1.        James Taylor, you are 21 years old and fall to be sentenced for dangerous driving, failing to stop and report an accident and driving with a defective tyre.  In short that night, the night of the offence, you drove into a member of the public on a road, knocked them over and left them injured at the scene without stopping to see how they were, let alone report the accident.

2.        On 17 June last year the victim and his friend had been socialising at a public house in St John.  They were concerned to hear vehicles passing which they thought were going too fast.  At about 11.35pm, they left the public house and went to a bus stop on La Route du Nord for the purposes of going home.

3.        The friend heard a car engine revving behind him and as it was dark and the car seemed to be going fast, he jumped into the hedge at the side of the road.  It is not suggested by the Crown that this was your car, and shortly thereafter, the victim heard a vehicle - it was not clear whether it was the same vehicle that his friend had heard just before - and he decided to take the registration number of the vehicle and began filming.  He stepped out of the bus stop and was still on the pavement whilst filming when the driver stopped, turned around and drove away.  At this time, another vehicle appeared, driven by you.  It was a grey Hyundai 'Fast Back'.  The victim videoed your car approaching which he thought was going fast.  He stepped into the road and you saw him and the video footage from the victim's mobile telephone shows that it was necessary for you to break hard in order to bring your car to a halt.  You then reversed your vehicle and on the footage we can see you accelerating hard and we can hear the wheels of your car spinning as you drove directly into the victim and hit him with your car.  He rolled off the bonnet and recalls hitting the windscreen.  As he fell from the car, his arm became trapped in the wheel arch and he was dragged along for approximately 10 metres.  He could have been very significantly injured indeed.  In fact, his injuries were substantial; he suffered extensive loss of skin on the left side of his chest, abdomen and thigh and suffered a deep laceration to his elbow which was stitched.  He was hospitalised, treated there and we agree with the Crown that you used your car as a weapon in that you deliberately drove it at the victim risking his life and limb.

4.        A few days later your victim went to hospital again as he was unable to walk, suffering from swelling, bruising and an oozing wound to his leg which was painful and we have been furnished with the statement that he made on 30 December in which he deals with the consequences of being run over that night by you.  He says that he was unable to sleep for a month, he was off work for a month, he was told by his doctor to cover his injuries from the sun for over a year, he suffered severe road burns to his right hand side and it is not known whether his arm will require a skin graft.  He has a mass of blood in his left leg and there are concerns about the risks of blood clots.  He details a number of activities that he is currently no longer able to participate in. 

5.        It is to your discredit that you failed to stop and simply drove off, having knowingly struck a member of the public with your vehicle.

6.        You were arrested shortly thereafter by the police at home and you effectively told the police that the collision was unavoidable because it was caused by the victim jumping into the road and that you had driven off in a panic, having hit him.  However, that is not what happened and is not what the footage to which we have referred shows.  When your car was impounded for examination, it was ascertained that the front, off-side tyre was worn below the legal limit and chunks of the tyre had been torn off.  The officer said this was likely to be a consequence of "aggressive driving over an unknown period of time" but we do not suggest or take into account any previous driving of that nature for the purpose of sentencing you today.

7.        Subsequently, in your police interview, you said that that evening you had been out with two friends who separately left before you at high speed in their own cars.  Again, you effectively blamed the victim for the accident.  You said that he stepped out into the road (which he did) and that you reversed in order to go round him and then he had stepped into your path.  Thereafter, you had panicked.

8.        You were shown the skid marks on the road which demonstrated that you had not attempted to drive round the victim and in fact had driven at him.  Nonetheless, you pleaded guilty at the first opportunity and you will receive full credit for your plea.

9.        Although your record is limited to motoring offences, they are relevant for the purposes of this case as you were convicted and fined for speeding by the Magistrate in both April and July of last year.  The second offence, which was dealt with in July, was committed before these offences.  Accordingly, you had committed two speeding offences very shortly before committing these offences.

10.      This was a serious piece of dangerous driving - you aggressively drove a vehicle with a defective front tyre, deliberately in the direction of the victim, intending to run him over, which you did.

11.      You failed to stop, leaving the victim who you must have known you had struck with your car, injured at the scene.

12.      We have taken into account all that has been said on your behalf and considered whether it would be appropriate to impose anything other than a custodial sentence, but we are of the view that an offence of this nature is so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.

13.      To use a vehicle as a weapon, as you in effect did, will always be met by a significant custodial sentence.

14.      We have reduced the Crown's conclusions to take into account your youth, the references we have read, all that has been said about you and we decided to make the sentence on Count 2 concurrent as we accept that on the particular facts of this case the failing to stop was indeed part and parcel of your dangerous driving.

15.      The sentence on Count 1 is 12 months' imprisonment with 3 years' disqualification to be followed by a retest when that period expires.  Count 2, 3 months' imprisonment, concurrent and a 12 month period of disqualification concurrent, and on Count 3, we impose no separate penalty making a total of 12 months' imprisonment and 3 years' disqualification from driving. 

Authorities

AG v Le Breton [2022] JRC 074

AG v Brown [2021] JRC 003

AG v N [2020] JRC 265

AG v Le Goff [2020] JRC 033

Magistrate's Court Sentencing Guidelines for Motoring Offences