Suspended sentence for Conway Street puncher

Monday 31 December 2018

A 28-year-old has received a prison sentence of 13 weeks, suspended for two years, after he punched a man who owed him money in the early hours of 27 August on Conway Street.

Stefan Carrel appeared in Magistrate's Court on 27 December facing a charge of common assault and of obstructing a police officer.

Legal Adviser Carla Carvalho told Court that on 27 August, around 03:15, the victim had been walking near the toilets on Conway Street with friends. He was stopped by Carrel who started shouting, shortly after, that the man owed him money. He then punched him in the face, causing cuts to the man's nose.

The victim tried to walk away but Carrel continued. The Court heard that at one point, the man who was with Carrel also assaulted the victim. 

Carrel was recognised by one of the victim's friends who knew him by sight. 

Although there was no CCTV footage of the actual incident, images collected by the Police showed Carrel running away from an unmarked Police car shortly after the incident. He was eventually arrested at 07:25 in a flat, as he was hiding behind the bedroom door.

Pictured: Police officers found a small amount of cannabis in Carrel's car.

On 7 September, Police officers saw Carrel drive into the area of Westlea Court. When they approached the vehicle, Carrel had left but returned five minutes later. As the door to the car opened, officers could smell cannabis. They asked Carrel if they could search the car, which he agreed to but then left the scene.

Officers found a small amount of cannabis in the car but couldn’t say if it belonged to Carrel or the passenger so no charge followed. 

Advocate Francesca Pinel, defending, said that Carrel had been cooperative. She explained he had ran away when officers tried to handcuff because of he had previously suffered from claustrophobia while in a cell.

She said she had no explanation to offer regarding the assault but that Carrel didn't appear to have been under the influence of alcohol.

Pictured: Carrel's sentence has been suspended for two years.

Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris said that if Carrel had been a first time offender, he would only have been fined for the assault. 

He explained that since Carrel was signed off from work, it was unlikely he would be fit for community service and therefore an order in that sense would be setting him up for fail. Since Carrel still had previous fines to pay, and would be doing so until 2020, the Assistant Magistrate said he didn't feel it was appropriate to add to them with more fines.

The Assistant Magistrate therefore said that, due to the circumstances, Carrel was facing a custodial sentence. He however took the unusual decision of suspending Carrel's prison sentence, saying: "It's not normally what the Court does but I think it is the proper option."

He imposed a total of 13 weeks in prison, suspended for two years, and warned Carrel that if he reoffends in that period, he will not only face 13 weeks in prison as well as any other sentence imposed for the new offences.