The Inferior Number decided on a sentence of 180 hours community service for Christopher Richard Le Masurier (27), who admitted committing a grave and criminal assault on Guernseyman Sonny Duncombe on 8 February.The court heard that Le Masurier had been out drinking with a woman, Nicola Cole, who he had lived with for seven months.
While they were in Chambers, however, she said Duncombe, a former lover, was at her flat and she was going home.The defendant ran after her taxi and arrived at her St Saviour flat to find Duncombe and another man, Chris Ogier, already there.Crown Advocate David Le Cornu said that Duncombe claimed Le Masurier had come into the flat, ripped off the patio doors and then hit Duncombe with them.
Duncombe alleged his attacker then left through the doors before returning with a miniature baseball-type bat and hitting him about the head and body.The girl told police officers that he had burst back into the flat ‘like an animal’ describing the episode as ‘savage and a nightmare’.The court heard that the statements of Cole, Duncombe and Ogier were inconsistent and it was therefore unclear just what had happened.
Cole initially claimed she was attacked by Le Masurier, but dropped all charges against him.Advocate Simon Young, defending, said his client knew what he had done was wrong and that he had acted ‘out of character’.He argued that his service to the RNLI and oyster farming business, which employed ten people, meant that he was more use to society outside of jail than inside.The Bailiff, Sir Philip Bailhache, said that the Inferior Number did not feel it was appropriate to jail the defendant.He was sitting with Jurats Le Ruez and Georgelin.
