Judge decides offender "can still be saved"

Sunday 19 July 2020

A 19-year-old has been spared prison following a number of drunken offences, in which he got into a late night fight, kicked a police officer in the stomach, vandalised someone's car and broke into the police station.

Toby Roussel was instead given 180 hours of community service, as a direct alternative to six months in youth detention.

He also has to serve a two year probation order and must pay £2,000 of compensation to the person whose vehicle he vandalised.

The first offence came when Roussel was arrested in the Lower Pollet on 2 February. He was charged with disorderly behaviour and resisting arrest by running away while a police officer was handcuffing him. When the officer caught up with him, an unknown male tried to lift the officer off of Roussel, who then got his legs around the officer's, before more officers arrived and used force to handcuff the defendant. 

On 20 February, Roussel and a group of friends were walking along the Quay behind a smaller group. Roussel's group crossed the road by M&S food hall and CCTV footage showed him getting into a fight with another man. 

The other defendant involved in that incident was due to be sentenced at the same time, however his charges have had to be adjourned until next week. 

Police were immediately on the scene to apprehend both men. Roussel again resisted arrest and kicked one of the officers in the stomach. 

Pictured: A fight broke out between Roussel and another young man on the Quay.

When officers eventually detained Roussel and took him to the station, an officer at the custody desk noted that he had dried blood in his eardrum and called for him to be medically examined. 

The prosecution said that Roussel then head butted the custody desk and became hard to control. A spit and bite guard was applied to his face and he was "slid" into the cell, after being taken there in a position that stopped him from kicking out at the officers. 

In another incident after being bailed, Roussel had text someone following a disagreement to say he would cause damage to their car. Shortly after, on 1 March, they found that their seats had been slashed along with other interior damage. 

On 19 April, at around 3:15 in the morning, he was caught kicking the front door of the police station and shoulder barging it, which caused damage to the door frame and a panel of glass, which ended up in the enquiries office. 

Shortly after he was apprehended in the police, he was recorded saying "Oh sh*t, I've broken into here, didn't I?"

Defence Advocate Liam Roffey said his client was a very different young man when he was sober, compared to when he was drunk.

"I act like a tw*t when I'm drunk," Roussel reportedly told his Advocate.

Advocate Roffey said his client knows that he needs to sort his life out, but that he is only a young man who had fallen into the wrong crowd at a young age, and this was both his first appearance in adult court and his first experience of custody.

He wasn't able to explain his actions as he "doesn't have a great deal of memory" of theme to being inebriated on each occasion. 

His relationship with alcohol was both "problematic and entrenched", however Advocate Roffey said his client was a talented young man who was highly regarded by his former employer.

His client, he said, had come to terms with the likelihood that he would be imprisoned for his offending behaviour and believed jail was the best place for him.

"Prison is the best opportunity I've had so far [...] given some of the places I've lived, a cell doesn't seem so bad," Roussel told his Advocate. 

Judge Graeme McKerrell was troubled by the defendant's attitude towards a custodial sentence.

"I don't want him to get comfortable in that environment because that could encourage further offending upon his release."

Judge McKerrell agreed with Advocate Roffey's view that Roussel could still have a "decent future" and regarded him as an "exceptional case".

Pictured: Roussel caused damage to the entrance of the police station. 

"This is your first appearance in the adult court and if there was a medal to be won for the nature and number of your offences, you would have a shot of winning gold."

"There is one common thread running through all your offences and it is substance abuse - carry on and you are heading for a sorry and miserable future [...] however I am hopeful that you have a chance of being saved."

Judge McKerrell said Roussel must take full responsibility for his actions, beginning with the sentences that have been imposed on him. 

Roussel will undertake 180 hours of community service - the longest amount available in the Magistrate's Court - and has a two-year probation order that he must fulfil. In addition, he has six months to pay £2,000 in compensation to the person whose car he damaged and £147 to Guernsey Police for damage he caused to the station's entrance. 

"I do give people one chance," said Judge McKerrell in closing. "I rarely give them a second. This is your one chance: take it."