AG v Benyoucef (Royal Court : Sentencing (Criminal)) [2025] JRC 064 (6 March 2025)

JUDGMENT THE BAILIFF: 1. You are sentenced today for a single count of attempting to pervert the course of justice in that you sought to intimidate a witness during the course of a police investigation against you for assault.

2. We do not need to set out the details of the subject matter that was being investigated. It is sufficient to say you were the subject of that investigation and the individual who you sought to intimidate had implicated you in it, by means of identifying you as someone who had thrown a glass in July 2023.

3. About a week or so after the incident, you encountered the person who was to give evidence that implicated you at West Centre late on a Friday night, or in the early hours of Saturday morning. You were with a number of friends and although the Victim of your intimidation was also with friends you asked to speak to him privately. He walked with you for that purpose, but your friends came along as well, and the potential witness felt intimidated by them. You then told the witness that he had to go to the police to tell them it was not you, who had thrown a glass in the event under investigation.

4. You then took out your phone and showed the witness a number of photographs of himself taken throughout the week, at different locations and when he clearly did not know he was being photographed. You then told him "go to the police and tell them it wasn't me, you are being watched" . Understandably, the potential witness felt scared, and he was worried about what might be done to him if he did not change his current statement to the police.

5. In interview you denied making any threats to the witness or asking him to change his statement. The Crown has cited AG v Dias [2017] JRC 114 in which the then Bailiff after remarking that any attempt to pervert the course of justice is a serious offence went on to say - " pressurising a witness to withdraw a complaint that he or she has properly made is also extremely serious We take into account though that pressurising a witness to withdraw what turns out to be an unproved complaint is less serious and where there is no great pressure but there is contact or interference, that is probably less serious still -� nonetheless serious because any attempt to pervert the course of justice is of itself serious." 6. We take into account that you are serving a significant period of imprisonment for unrelated offences, and we also take into account that the offence which you are being sentenced today happened a significant period in the past. Had you been sentenced for it when you were sentenced for the other offending in respect of which you are now in prison, the Court would have approached the overall sentence on the basis of totality. As the Crown has indicated however, a sentence relating to perverting the course of justice would normally be consecutive.

7. Accordingly, we agree with the Crown's approach that the sentence should be quite distinct from the sentence that you already serving but reduced to reflect totality. You do not have the benefit of good character as you have many previous convictions, although none for offending of this type. Similarly, you do not have the benefit of a guilty plea, which would have been indicative of remorse, and you continue to maintain your innocence.

8. Accordingly, in our view the personal mitigation available to you, is the efforts that you have made in prison and to some extent the challenges that are apparent in your background. We also must note the content of the victim's personal statement which we find to be entirely understandable in the circumstances.

9. We deal first with the restraining order and you have made no comment about that and impose the order in terms requested by the Crown for a 5-year period with any breach giving rise to a sentence up to a 5 years' imprisonment.

10. In terms of your sentence for this offending in the light of the various factors that we have mentioned, we think that we can reduce the conclusions moved for by the Crown, and you are sentenced to 12 months' imprisonment, consecutive to the amount that you are already serving. Authorities Crime (Public Order) (Jersey) Law AG v Dias [2017] JRC 114 AG v Doran [2020] JRC 129 AG v Mildren [2021] JRC 114 Page Last Updated: 04 Apr 2025 BAILII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Donate to BAILII