Violent man to be deported after three years locked up

Thursday 31 May 2018

A Portuguese man living in Guernsey has been sentenced to three years in prison, and recommended for subsequent deportation, after he broke another man's left cheek bone and then assaulted a fellow inmate while he was remanded in custody.

Norberto De Sousa, 21, punched another man in the face and then swung another punch at him while they were outside of Amigos' bar on the North Plantation.

The victim was left with fractures to his facial bones that led to him being referred to Southhampton hospital for surgery. A doctor's report said numbness which the man reported could be permanent following the operation to reconstruct the left cheek bones. A victim impact statement read out in court also identified how the man had had to miss around 40 days of work and had been under high stress because of what De Sousa did to him.

It all occurred while he was intervening in an verbal argument between one of his friends and one of De Sousa's friends. The entire incident was captured on CCTV, showing the defendant suddenly lashing out. De Sousa then left the scene, but was soon after identified by one of the victim's friends and police officers.

At the time of the incident, on 18 December 2017, De Sousa was already on bail for two other charges, which were eventually dropped, but he was still breaking bail conditions by having consumed alcohol, which caused him to be remanded in custody. He said he had drunk 12 beers and two shots of alcohol which his bail conditions had banned. 

He did say he regretted drinking, but argued he was "brought up" to react like that when someone invaded his personal space, because he became claustrophobic.

The incident inside prison occurred after De Sousa and another inmate argued over whose go it was to play on a pool table. CCTV showed the men talking and then De Sousa once again started throwing punches.

He had moved from Madeira to Guernsey in 2015, and had been working as a kitchen assistant ahead of his arrest. He had one relevant previous conviction from early 2017, when he was fined £700. 

Judge Finch said De Sousa was not a man of good character, and these kinds of violent acts would not be tolerated in the community: "You have obviously got a bad temper and have not controlled it here, this was a serious and mindless reaction.

"There was no reason for you to act as you did, and we have to do our best to make sure our streets are not polluted by this sort of violence."

In total, De Sousa will serve three years in prison before the Lieutenant Governor will be asked to sign papers confirming his deportation to Madeira, which the court said it had "no doubt" in recommending him for. He was also ordered to pay £372 in compensation to the victim.