Jail for busy restaurant worker who refused to do community service

Friday 25 February 2022

A restaurant worker with a driving conviction, who refused to do community service “out in the cold” on top of his 70-hour-a-week job, has had his bid to overturn a jail sentence rejected.

Mohammed Babrul Hussain appeared in the Royal Court on Thursday in front of the Bailiff, Timothy Le Cocq QC to appeal a custodial sentence imposed for failing to complete community service.

On 20 January, Hussain was sentenced to four months in jail for breaching a 100-hour community service order.

Hussain had originally been sentenced to community service last December after pleading guilty to one count of driving without insurance.

Hussain admitted to borrowing his mother’s car “knowing that he was uninsured” because he was “being lazy” and “did not want to walk to work”.

The appellant has had multiple previous convictions for both road traffic law charges and failing to complete community service orders.

Hussain was due to meet his community service officer in early October, but this was delayed due to a covid-related backlog of appointments. 

When he attended his meeting six weeks later in November, Hussain refused to commit to his community service appointments and turned down an offer of a “seven-day cooling off period”.

Pictured: The "busy festive period" and "staff shortages" led to Hussain working 70-hour weeks in the run up to his community service commitments.

It was noted that Hussain was working seven days a week for 10 hours a day at Jaipur Restaurant on the Esplanade, St. Helier, due to the “busy festive period” and “staff shortages”.

Hussain originally told his community service officer that he was “prepared to go to prison” rather than complete community service at the time. He suggested that his long working hours made the idea of “working outside in the cold” seem “unbearable”.

Advocate Frances Littler represented the appellant in court. Advocate Littler argued that Hussain was “mentally and physically drained” due to work commitments and that his busy schedule was not properly considered when he was sentenced to jail time.

Advocate Little also suggested that the “no second chances” philosophy cited at the time of Hussain’s sentencing was inappropriate, as previous cases of community service breaches had resulted in an extension of the order rather than a custodial sentence.

Pictured: Mohammed Babrul Hussain originally received 100 hours of community service after being found guilty of driving without insurance.

Representing the Crown, Advocate Simon Crowder contended that the previous cases of community service breaches that had been referred to all had one factor in common - that the appellants had already partially completed their commitments.

As Hussain had not even commenced his order, Advocate Crowder said that the notion established in his sentencing that he was “unfit for community service” should be upheld. Hussain’s previous convictions were also mentioned.

After retiring to consider the case, the Bailiff said that Hussain’s appeal was dismissed.

The Bailiff commented that the community service team “bends over backwards” to accommodate people, but that those serving orders “must comply” with demands.

“In this case we cannot say that the sentence is manifestly excessive or wrong in principle”, the Bailiff concluded. "For that reason, the appeal is dismissed.”