Aspects of Violence
| DOI | 10.1177/02645505211020523 |
| Date | 01 September 2021 |
| Published date | 01 September 2021 |
| Subject Matter | In court |
In court
Nigel Stone, Visiting Fellow in the School of Psychology, University of East Anglia,
reviews recent appeal judgments and other judicial developments that inform sen-
tencing and early release.
Aspects of Violence
Combat veteran’s intoxicated blow: Principled departure
from Guideline
After an evening’s heavy drinking together G. quarrelled with T., a long-term friend,
apparently overmoney that G. later claimed T. owed him,and in the course of a fight
struck a singleblow to T.’s head with a bottle that brokeon impact, causing superficial
lacerations and soft tissue damage, but not serious injury. Aged in his early 30s G.
had enlistedin the army at age 18 and had been posted to Afghanistanwhere his unit
sustaineda grenade attackcausing severe injury to fellowsoldiers who he had sought
to assist, causing him to experience enduring flashbacks, disturbed sleep and
nightmares. He had resorted to heavy drinking as a means of coping but ensuing
convictions for driving with excess alcohol had led to his discharge from military
service. Though in stable civilian employment with a good work reference he had
continued to drink heavily but he had no prior convictions for any form of violence.
On G.’s conviction of wounding with intent (s18, maximum: life), following
contested trial, a pre-sentence report (PSR) noted his evident remorse, notwith-
standing his poor recall of the crime incident, assessing him to pose a low risk of
re-offending. Advising that G. needed to deal with and overcome his problematic
drinking, the PSR acknowledged the likelihood of a custodial sentence but recom-
mended a long community order to address that problem, with alcohol treatment
(ATR), rehabilitation activity and unpaid work requirements. A tandem psychiatric
report diagnosed mental and behavioural disorders due to severe stress and
harmful use of alcohol and supported an ATR. Observing that the injury caused had
been less harmful than commonly featured in s18 attacks, the sentencing judge also
noted that in the ensuing period of 16 months there had been no further resort to
violence. The judge was persuaded to sentence outside of the relevant Assault
Guideline (Sentencing Council, 2011, which would normally require a custodial
Probation Journal
ªThe Author(s) 2021
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DOI: 10.1177/02645505211020523
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The Journal of Community and Criminal Justice
2021, Vol. 68(3) 373–387
court
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