WATCH: Vehicle seized after dangerous driving

Friday 09 October 2020

In a shock sentence that hasn't been passed "in some time", the Magistrate's Court has ordered the forfeiture of someone's vehicle - which they bought for £7,000 just two months ago - as punishment for late-night driving offences.

Dale Nigel Raymond Simon, 26, has also been sentenced to two months in prison and disqualified from driving for five years.

He was convicted for a series of driving offences in the early hours of Friday 11 September.

At around 00:45, Simon hit the bonnet of a parked car on the Crown Pier, causing damage to both vehicles. He was then seen driving into the pedestrian railings while travelling along the Quay, at which point he came to the police's attention. 

Officers in a marked vehicle followed Simon and caught up to him on Le Val de Terres, where they indicated for him to stop. 

However Simon continued, swerving violently onto the grass verge and taking out a lamp post, before driving on and off the pavement and swerving over the middle of the road in his Daihatsu pick-up.

Dashcam footage of police following Simon in his Daihatsu pick-up. Simon eventually stopped around by Fort George, but refused to take a breath test after being apprehended.

In interview, Simon said he had little recollection of the “prolonged” chase and did not see the police flashing for him to stop.

Defence Advocate Sam Maindonald said her client was “embarrassed and ashamed” of his behaviour. She said that her client "has not had the full benefit" of a Probation Order imposed upon him in February this year for a separate incident. 

"It was not a high speed chase by any means and it is fortunate that there were no other road users or pedestrians," she said. 

Simon acknowledged that his alcohol use, albeit infrequent, was a "problem" - Advocate Maindonald said he is otherwise a hard-working and well-respected employee.

"When he does drink, there is a binge drinking effect and it does affect his behaviour," she conceded. 

There was a twist in the case when Crown Prosecutor Chris Dunford brought an application for forfeiture of Simon's vehicle. 

He said it was "time the Prosecution started doing this" for appropriate cases as "there must be a deterrent" against dangerous and drink driving. 

However Advocate Maindonald was unhappy with the application, which had only been brought to her attention that same morning, leading to numerous adjournments so that more details about the car's ownership could be established. 

Pictured: Dale Simon was sentenced in Guernsey's Magistrate's Court. 

Advocate Maindonald said her client had bought the vehicle from the UK in August and has so far only made a couple of personal loan payments towards it. 

She argued that the forfeiture of Simon's car would not be "proportionate" and said there was a risk of a precedent being set.

"Why should my client be the example for this?" she asked. 

Advocate Dunford replied: "My friend has suggested unfairly that we were trying to make an example of her client."

The Prosecutor said that he has been having discussions with Guernsey Police about this sentencing option for around 18 months. 

"It has been considered for a number of cases but wasn’t deemed to be proportionate. We have to consider it in certain cases and this is considered to be an appropriate case."

Judge Gary Perry immediately discarded any suggestion that the value of a car, and whether or not it is owned outright, should be considerations in his judgment.

"If people on HP [for example] were somehow exempt, it would be a nonsensical piece of legislation," he said. "It could potentially defeat the object of the legislation."

"It appears to me that this is the first application of this kind for some time but that in itself doesn’t make the application any less meritorious."

Pictured: Guernsey Police's Roads Policing Inspector Tom Marshall.

"Both advocates agree the power is available to me, I am simply asked to exercise my discretion because it "would not be proportionate to do so" because the vehicle is relatively new and was a bought with a personal loan.

"I disagree with [Advocate Maindonald] on this point. 

"This was a proper application and I have taken full account of the totality principle when considering the sentences themselves."

In addition to handing over Simon's vehicle to Bailiwick Law Enforcement, Judge Perry has sent Simon to prison for two months. This would have been longer were it not the forfeiture of his vehicle, as Judge Perry applied the totality principle to the sentences in the round. 

He handed out sentences of two months in prison for Simon's failure to provide a breath specimen, and two months concurrent for dangerous driving and for failure to stop. Judge Perry concluded that there has to be a deterrent for people refusing to take a breath test, which is quite a rare offence. 

"This is a prolonged case of driving even if a relatively low speed. The standard of your driving tells me that you had consumed a considerable amount of alcohol."