Young man jailed after 12-inch knife threat

Monday 20 May 2019

A 20-year old man who threatened a stranger with a 12-inch kitchen knife, and later told a Police firearms unit they'd mistaken it for a chocolate bar, has been jailed for over a year.

Bruno Alexandre Castro Vaz was handed his 15 month sentence, and a recommendation for deportation, in the Royal Court on Friday following a string of violent crimes committed within six months of arriving in Jersey from Madeira.

HM Attorney General Robert MacRae told Lieutenant Bailiff Tony Olsen, and Jurats Jane Ronge and Pam Pitman, that Vaz had to be restrained by another man as he brandished the knife at a man in Lempriere Street at about 22:30 on 27 December last year.

“The victim... was terrified that the defendant might attack him with the knife,” Mr MacRae told the Court, “He stated that the defendant kept coming towards him while [another man] repeatedly pulled him back.”

Pictured: Vaz brandished the knife, which was described as "probably the biggest... in your [kitchen] drawer", in Lempriere Street.

Later, two members of the public who passed Vaz and another man in Aquila Road thought they saw the defendant pull out a knife and, having reached their car, drove past them again to check. One of the witnesses told Police: “...It was definitely a kitchen knife and would probably be the biggest knife in your drawer."

Two firearms officers subsequently found the defendant in Devonshire Place, having discarded the knife. He told them that they had "the wrong guy", but could not explain why he had discarded a hooded jumper, which Police found nearby. He later admitted lying, but first maintained that the witnesses had mistaken the knife for a chocolate bar and later claimed that it was "only a penknife".

The Court heard that earlier the same evening the defendant had assaulted a man in Spearmel Stores in Belmont Road, forcing his way into the closed shop and dragging him out into the street where he fell to the ground, sustaining minor injuries.

The offences were committed while Vaz was being investigated for another assault on an employee of McDonald’s and on the same occasion causing a breach of the peace in Halkett Street. The offences took place more than four months earlier on 4 August last year.

Pictured: Prior to brandishing a knife, Vaz also assaulted a man in Spearmel Stores, the Royal Court heard.

He had pushed his way to the front of the queue in the fast food restaurant to confront the employee, whom he suspected of making offensive comments to his girlfriend.

“The defendant then went to the rear of the restaurant where he again confronted [the employee]. He undid his belt and wrapped it around his hand. When the back entrance of the restaurant was closed, the defendant returned to the front entrance and continued to shout until police officers arrived at the scene and arrested him,” the Attorney General told the Court. 

Referring to the episode with the knife, Mr MacRae drew the Court’s attention to the fact that the defendant’s admission that he was carrying a weapon was also legally an admission that he intended to use the weapon under Article 43 of the Firearms Law.

Moving for a total period of 21 months’ Youth Detention, he told the Court that the crimes had been committed within six months of Vaz’s arrival in the island and that his wife had subsequently returned to Madeira. His continued presence in Jersey was, he said, clearly detrimental to the island and there were no human rights factors to outweigh a recommendation for deportation once his sentence had been completed.

Pictured: Vaz was being investigated for another assault on an employee of McDonald’s at the time of the knife incident.

Representing Vaz, Advocate George Pearce told the Court that his client accepted the facts presented by the Attorney General, though he denied saying that he was going to stab the man before whom he had brandished the knife.

He asked the Court to take into account his client’s background. He had a disrupted childhood, having been taken into care in Madeira as a teenager and had never known his biological father, Advocate Pearce told the Court.

Passing sentence, Lieutenant Bailiff Olsen told Vaz that his victim must have been very frightened when the knife was produced and was clearly terrified that he was going to be stabbed. “It was disgraceful behaviour for which the defendant should be thoroughly ashamed of himself,” he said.

The offences were aggravated by the fact that they were assaults committed during a "drunken loss of temper" and there was no sign of any provocation, he said.

Pictured: Lieutenant Bailiff Anthony Olsen was presiding.

However, as an act of mercy, he said that the Court would reduce the sentence sought by the Crown for the knife assault to 15 months’ Youth Detention, consisting of sentences of between three and nine months for breaching the peace, the common assaults and carrying an offensive weapon all imposed concurrently.

“We have no hesitation in finding that the presence of the defendant would be detrimental to the island,” added Lieutenant Bailiff Olsen, making a recommendation for Vaz’s deportation.