5 years for burger kiosk assault

Tuesday 21 March 2017

Jersey's Royal Court has sentenced a 38-year-old man to 5 years in jail after he assaulted another man at a burger kiosk with the neck of a shattered bottle.

The assault took place near the Bel Royal Burger Kiosk in April last year.

On the day of the attack, the Court heard that Kamal Hussain had been drinking with a female friend. They were apparently sitting at a table at the burger kiosk when the victim arrived. 

Crown advocate David Steenson, prosecuting, told the Court that the victim extended his hand to Hussain, and patted him on the back, which Hussain saw as a threat. He then apparently lunged at the victim with the neck of a broken bottle coming into contact with the right side of the neck, causing multiple lacerations.

Advocate Steenson described the attack as "...an unprovoked vicious assault. It was a deliberate attack on an innocent victim that could have been potentially fatal. It is only fortuitous that the injuries sustained were not life-threatening." 

Advocate Julian Gollop, defending, told the Court his client had acted "... in the heat of the moment and in a state of panic." He explained that his client had only thrown one blow in a slashing motion, without realising he had come into contact with the victim, whom he claimed had attacked him with a syringe. 

He also said that "...although visibly shocking, the injuries were at no time life-threatening and did not involve any vital structures. It was a superficial cut to the muscle and the scar that is left is unfortunate." As such, he urged the Royal Court to base their sentencing not on what the injury could have been, but on the facts only.

Reading the sentence, Deputy Bailiff, Tim Le Cocq told Hussain: "You could have walked away, and you didn't," adding he had "deliberately armed himself. It was a serious assault and you put yourself in a situation where it could happen." He also described the attack as "...a horrific experience for the witnesses" among which were a group of French schoolchildren.

The Royal Court chose a sentence of five years in prison.