Assaulted relative after "losing the plot"

Friday 22 May 2020

A 31-year-old has gone to prison for assaulting a relative, vandalising plants in their garden and possessing a small amount of cannabis.

Daniel Martel, 31, was sentenced to six months in prison in total for the offences, committed over the course of around four weeks.

The first of these offences came on 15 March, when Martel was found by police taking herbal cannabis in a van by the Pulias Pond. After searching his vehicle, officers also found some cannabis resin in the back. 

After being analysed, the amounts were found to be 2.04g of cannabis resin and 0.16g of herbal cannabis. 

Four weeks later, at around midday on 10 April, he went to pick up a key from a relative's address. 45 minutes later he returned to the address in a state of "distress", which he said was because he had suffered a "panic attack".

After having a conversation with a woman through a downstairs window, the court was told that he started punching the window. The woman he was talking to walked off, so Martel climbed in through the window and then confronted a man inside the property. 

The pair got into a scuffle, with the prosecution saying that Martel was striking the other man to the head and body for around 30 - 60 seconds.

The other man had some soft tissue damage to his shoulder but sustained no other injuries.

The two men were broken apart by the woman and Martel was told to leave as they were calling the police. While outside on the patio, he started pulling up plants and throwing them at the windows.

He left the scene before police arrived, but they caught up with him and arrested him later in the evening.

Pictured: Daniel Martel will spend the next six months in Les Nicolles Prison for the offences.

Martel's Advocate said his client had received some upsetting news earlier that day, before the incident at the house, and had suffered a panic attack. 

He asked that his client receive a Community Service Order or a suspended sentence, as he believed the threat of prison hanging over him would act as a good deterrent against reoffending. 

Judge Graeme McKerrell was not convinced, saying that Martel's criminal record counted against him and that this was not the first time he had been "out of control".

"Your life is littered with emotional crises and although there are many reasons for that, drugs are a significant contributor." 

"Drugs are to a large measure the refuge you turn to when things are not going well."

Judge McKerrell referred to the probation report he had been given, which said that Martel had never been diagnosed with a mental illness.

"You have relevant previous offences and have breached a Community Service Order in the past."

The probation report suggested that a non-custodial sentence could be suitable for Martel, however Judge McKerrell did not think it would work.

Martel will serve six months in prison - five for the assault, and a further one month for the drug offences. The destruction of the plants was given a one month sentence, however this will run concurrently with the assault.