Jersey Unreported Judgments

2003JRC088

ROYAL COURT

(Samedi Division)

 

30^th May 2003

 

 

The Attorney General

-v-

Harold Colin Artiss

 

 

1 count of:

Grave and criminal assault.

 

Breach of a 60 hour Community Service Order, made on 4^th November, 2002, in the Magistrate's Court on guilty plea to assault and being disorderly on licensed premises.

 

Age:     38.

 

Plea:    Guilty; breach admitted.

 

Details of Offence:

After an argument with his girlfriend, Artiss arranged to stay for the night at the Magnolia Hotel with his friend.  While waiting for his friend to get ready, he played a game of pool with the hotel manager, who was the victim in this matter.  Artiss and his friend then wandered down to the Mont Felard Pub and stayed there until closing time.  As they were arriving back at the hotel, a group of four other hotel residents caught up with them and a scuffle ensued.  Although brief, the scuffle disturbed the victim, who came outside to investigate.  While the other participants dispersed and returned inside the hotel, Artiss and his friend waited outside the hotel for a short while before entering.  The victim, knowing that the friend's room was close to those of the other participants in the scuffle, asked both men to leave the hotel.  Artiss then stood up and asked the victim if he was going to call the police.  The victim replied that he was not going to call the police but that he was going to call the hotel owner in order to report the incident, which he subsequently did immediately.  Following the telephone call, the victim felt a hand come from behind and being placed on his left shoulder.  He stopped and turned towards Artiss who, after directing a racist comment at him, grabbed him at the side of his head and head butted him on the bridge of his nose, causing him to step backwards.  He then punched the victim once in the face, causing him to fall to the ground and then kicked him once in the head.  At this point, Artiss stopped, said, "I'd better go" and left the building.  There was no loss of consciousness and the victim was not found to be suffering concussion, but he had sustained two 1cm lacerations to the bridge of his nose and imprinted bruising on the left side of the cheek.  A couple of days later, Artiss returned to the United Kingdom by ferry.  He returned to Rouge Bouillon Police Station some four weeks after the assault on a voluntary basis and undertook a question and answer interview, during which he accepted that he may have unintentionally head butted the victim while getting up but claimed that the victim had instigated the melee.     

 

Details of Mitigation:

Guilty plea, sole bread-winner, remorse, offer to pay compensation, a good record of employment.

 

Previous Convictions:

Several minor road traffic offences, carrying an air weapon in a public place.  Wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm in 1988 and assault in November, 2002.

 

Conclusions:

Count 1:

18 months' imprisonment.

Breach of Community Service Order: 1 month's imprisonment, consecutive.

 

Sentence and Observations of Court:

Count 1:

14 months' imprisonment.

Breach of Community Service Order: 1 month's imprisonment, consecutive.

The Court gave very careful consideration to the facts and mitigation.  One Jurat would have followed the recommendation of Probation and given Community Service.  The other Jurat would have sought imprisonment.  Bailiff had casting vote and, in the round, felt that the offence was so serious as to make a custodial sentence necessary.  The Court thought however that the Crown's starting point of three years should in fact have been 30 months and reduced the sentence accordingly. 

 

C.M.M. Yates, Esq., Crown Advocate.

Advocate W. Grace for the Defendant.

 

 

 

JUDGMENT

 

 

 

THE BAILIFF:

1.        This defendant was involved in an altercation and was under the influence of alcohol when he was asked to leave an hotel by the hotel manager.  He reacted in an aggressive manner and when the manager made a telephone call to the owner of the hotel seeking assistance the defendant head-butted him in the face, punched him to the ground, and subsequently kicked him once in the head, whilst the man was on the ground.  It is an unpleasant feature of the assault that racist abuse was spoken before the head-butt took place. 

2.        The Jurats are divided.  One Jurat would, for the reasons largely expressed in the Probation Officer's Report, have imposed a sentence of Community Service.  The other Jurat would impose a custodial sentence.  I have, therefore, to exercise a casting vote.  I agree with the other Jurat that a grave and criminal assault, involving a kick to the head, and a head-butt, is one that must in general be punished with a custodial sentence.

3.        We have taken account of all the mitigating factors very ably outlined by your counsel.  We take a starting point of 30 months' imprisonment, and making due allowance for the mitigating circumstances of the offences and your own background you will be sentenced on the grave and criminal assault to 14 months' imprisonment.  For the offences involving the breach of the Community Service Orders you will be sentenced to 1 month's imprisonment, concurrently with each other, but consecutively to the grave and criminal assault, making a total of 15 months imprisonment; and we discharge the Community Service Orders.

Authorities

Mallet -v- Attorney General [2000] JLR 256.

Whelan: "Aspects of Sentencing in the Superior Courts in Jersey (2^nd Edition): pp.260-5.