AG -v- F [2012] JRC 115 (08 June 2012)

JUDGMENT THE DEPUTY BAILIFF: 1. You are here facing two charges, one involving a punch to the face and the other a grave and criminal assault involving the use of your forearm or elbow and three to five punches. The offences took place in the early hours of 11 th September in a public place in Plat Douet Road. You were in a group of three people, the victims were walking and there were two of them. There was no relevant provocation which justified the assault. You were drunk. There was no serious injury caused to the first victim but the second victim, who was 23, suffered very serious head injuries which required that he had urgent treatment at the Wessex Neurological Centre in Southampton. The injuries were such that he could have suffered serious permanent damage. He might even have died, in which case you would have been facing a manslaughter charge. Fortunately he appears to be making good progress.

2. I expect you have read his victim personal statement which was made just over a month ago. He says "the assault has affected me in many ways, from being bed-bound for so long and I was very down in my mood. It was not the kind of thing, being assaulted, that I have ever been involved in before, especially in Jersey. I felt it was such a safe place. I am a musician and write my own music. Since the assault I lost the ability to write music. Before, something would pop into my head and although things have improved and I have started writing again, it is not easy for me now. Music is very important to me and I would like to make a career out of writing and playing music. I am still slightly confused and angry about the whole situation because I spend a lot of time wondering if the ones who assaulted me will learn from this and have any kind of remorse for what they have done". And he goes on to explain the other things which have happened to him since the assault.

3. Drunken assaults in a public place, at night, almost inevitably leave the Court in the position of imposing a custodial sentence. And frankly, had you not been the age you were, there would have been no question about it in this case. It is only because you are only 17 that we are charged to consider whether there is any other way of dealing with you. It is clear that you do not have a history of not responding to non-custodial sentences so the only question for us is whether or not the offence is so serious that a non-custodial sentence cannot be justified and we have been out considering this for some time because we have had, as you would expect, a serious discussion about that. You have come very close to having a custodial sentence imposed but on this occasion we are going to give you the benefit of your youth and we are going to impose a period of community service. The Community Service Order that we are going to impose is going to be a long Community Service Order. It reflects the culpability which you have for these offences and it reflects recognition from this Court about the impact of your assault on the victim which is serious. It is really only because you have your youth, you have a supportive family and you have the opportunity of putting your life in order that you are being given this chance.

4. On Count 1 you are sentenced to 120 hours' community service. That is to run concurrently with Count 2 on which you are sentenced to 300 hours' community service. Although that is reflective normally of a higher sentence of youth detention than 18 months' for which the Crown moved, we think 300 hours is the right reflection of the sanction which ought to be imposed here, given the injuries which the victim has suffered. But we would say that the alternative would have been 18 months' youth detention, if we had been imposing youth detention. There is no separate penalty in relation to the breach of the previous orders.

5. Now I want you to appreciate that if you do not perform the terms of your Community Service Order that you will be brought back to this Court and it is very likely indeed that you will then be sentenced to youth detention. Authorities Criminal Justice (Young Offenders)(Jersey) Law 1994. Harrison-v-AG [2004] JLR 111 . Page Last Updated: 02 Feb 2017 BAILII: Copyright Policy | Disclaimers | Privacy Policy | Feedback | Donate to BAILII