Assaulted Home James driver and drove home drunk

Friday 07 June 2019

A man has been imprisoned for six months after he attacked a Home James driver, before driving the car home while drunk.

Craig Abbot, 35, had been out with his partner and friends before the incident occurred in the St Peter Port area on 5 May.

The court heard that Abbot and his partner had pre-booked the Home James service to take them home from Buho restaurant at 01:00 on 5 May as they intended to drink alcohol on the night. Home James is a local business which primarily employs insured drivers to take customers back from a night out before returning home in a fold-up motorbike kept in the customers car during the journey. 

During dinner the defendant reportedly drank five pints of lager before continuing on to the Fermain Tavern where he drank a further five pints with his partner and friends. 

As arranged the driver picked up the defendant making a stop at La Vrangue Estate which Abbot said was the address of one of his friends. The court heard that Abbot became angered towards the driver telling him to get out of the car, saying:

"Let's go for it, you wanna start, let's f****ing go for it," the court heard 

He kicked the victim multiple times and thew him into a hedge before driving off in the car, one mile, to his home address. The victim suffered superficial injuries including multiple cuts and bruises. 

After the complainant called Guernsey Police they went to the defendant's home address where they found the car in the driveway, Abbot was slumped over in the driver's seat with the headlights on. He was breathalysed and found to have a reading of 99 mgs of alcohol per 100ml of his blood, the legal limit is 51 mgs per 100ml. 

The defendant told police his only recollection of the events was waking up in his car but entered a guilty plea at the earliest possibility. The court heard that the complainant did not provide a victim impact statement but did say:

"I didn't provoke him or deserve it." 

Speaking in his defence, Advocate Andrew Ayres said his client's last offence took place nine years ago and that he had a strong work ethic, working three jobs to provide for four children. 

Judge Gary Perry, presiding over the Magistrates Court on Thursday, said he had considered the many references for the defendant but that a custodial sentence showed the severity of attacking those workers such as taxi drivers.

"I've read the references that speak about you in glowing terms, when you're sober. Whichever way you look at this was a vicious and unprovoked attack on a man who was serving the community.

"You could actually have ruined his life. I realise too that the victims involved in the offence are not the only victims, families can be ruined, but that is the result of the actions of the assailant, not those of the court," he said. 

Abbot was sentenced to five months imprisonment for the assault and one month for the drink driving offence to run consecutively and was disqualified from driving for five years. He was also ordered to pay £300 in compensation to the victim.