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: Diary of a Criminal Solicitor

Send Him Down

By Gavin

I went to a Youth Court recently to represent a young man where he was due to be sentenced for an offence of assault occasioning actual bodily harm. ABH is an offence that can span a wide range of injuries from the fairly trivial to the rather serious. This particular case involved my Client stamping on an individuals head with one blow.

The case was always going to be a difficult one to deal with as the offence was nasty, and sentencing guidelines suggest that for such an assault prison, or in this case youth detention, should be considered as the sentencing starting point. On the last Court hearing the Court had ordered that a pre-sentence report be prepared to assist the Court in sentencing my Client. The report produced was very positive and made particular reference to the fact that my Client had an excellent record of attendance and compliance with the Youth Offending Service when he had been sentenced for other matters.

I informed my Client before the Court hearing that if he got lucky he would not be sent to prison, and if the Youth Court adopted the standard sentencing guidelines he could expect at least a four month detention and training order (i.e. the youth equivalent of prison). The hearing went well, my mitigation came out as I had planned with the usual speech of, "He should be given one last chance before you consider sending him to prison." I could see that the Bench were nodding their heads at the right parts of my speech. Once I had finished addressing the Bench they turned their attention to my Client and asked him what he had to say about matters - thankfully my Client had the sense to say that he was sorry. The Bench then asked my Client's father what he wanted to say, unfortunately he said something like this, "Send him to prison, it is the only way he is going to learn". That was exactly the kind of parental comment that an advocate dreads.

My Client was lucky enough to avoid being sent to prison, despite the seriousness of the offence, and despite his father's unhelpful comments.

Full post as published by Diary of a Criminal Solicitor on November 21, 2007 (boomark / email).