Prison for man who bit woman's arm

Saturday 09 September 2017

A 24-year-old man has been sentenced to 18 months in prison by the Royal Court after he assaulted a 20-year-old woman on two occasions, hitting her across the face and biting her.

Joshua James Crabtree faced one charge of common assault and one of grave and criminal assault. He has also been handed a restraining order, preventing him from contacting the victim directly or indirectly for the next five years.

The Court heard that the first incident took place in the early hours of 29 January. Crabtree and the victim got into an argument, and as the woman tried to walk away he grabbed her arm and twisted her skin, causing pain and bruising. 

Five days later, on 3 February, as Crabtree and the victim were sitting in her car, he removed the keys from the ignition and refused to give them back. Crabtree alleges that the victim bit him briefly to the top of his left arm after trying to getting the keys back. He then struck her across the face with the back of his hand and bit her upper right arm causing her to scream out in pain, even though she was wearing a thick jumper and a thick jacket. The victim said the blow was "hard" and "powerful."

The woman originally refused to make a complaint, saying it would cause problems for her in the long run. A medical examiner saw her on 4 February and observed a number of injuries including tenderness over her nose and temple, bruising inside her lips, around her right eye as well as on her right arm.

The defendant said that the first incident was unintentional and denied the allegations of biting and hitting, saying he hadn't touched her.

Crown Advocate Mark Temple, who was prosecuting, noted that Crabtree had 13 previous convictions for 43 offences, with the most recent ones, a common assault and a grave and criminal assault in 2014, having been committed on a woman. He said the incidents had placed Crabtree in breach of a probation order imposed by the Magistrate's Court in December 2016 and that the man had only completed 15 of the 50 hours of community service that had been ordered. 

He said the escalation in the offending, which moved from a common assault to a grave and criminal assault on the same victim within one week was an aggravating factor. 

Advocate James Bell, who was defending Crabtree, said that his client had in fact expressed remorse, during his meeting with a probation officer as well as in a letter. He said Crabtree regretted the outcome for the victim and acknowledged his response had been unacceptable. He however refuted the Prosecution's claim that Crabtree had used derogative language against the victim.

Handing out his sentence, Deputy Bailiff Tim Le Cocq, who was sitting with Jurats Mike Liston and Jerry Ramsden, told Crabtree there were no excuses for his behaviour, even though the victim may have bit him. He mentioned Crabtree's "lengthy" record and said he had failed to respond adequately to alternatives to prison in the past.

The Deputy Bailiff then said: "We would like to take your remorse as genuine and we accept you have expressed a measure of remorse."

Although he said that the Prosecution had been "slightly lenient" in its conclusions, the Deputy Bailiff chose to follow them and sentenced Crabtree to 18 months in prison. He also imposed a five-year restraining order that took effect on Friday.