Rapper jailed after crashing several times in drink-drive rampage

Rapper jailed after crashing several times in drink-drive rampage

Bertrand Ollivier Le Goff (46), also known as ‘Big Bro’, arrived in the Island on 12 October and took his wife out for dinner, the Royal Court heard.

But she soon announced that she wished to end their marriage of over 22 years and, despite having drunk ‘three to four large glasses of wine’, Le Goff got behind the wheel.

Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae yesterday said it was ‘a matter of good fortune’ that no one had been seriously injured or killed during the incident.

Crown Advocate Matthew Maletroit, prosecuting, told the court that Le Goff’s silver Volkswagen Passat was spotted on CCTV going westbound past Liberation Station on the wrong side of the road before travelling the wrong way down York Street, towards Charing Cross. A witness described his driving as ‘quick’ and ‘dangerous’.

Le Goff was next seen at 8.55pm by a man leaving Le Hocq Inn, who said he saw the defendant urinating on a Durrell ‘Go Wild Gorilla’ and shouted at him to stop and use the public toilets – just a few metres away.

However, Le Goff shouted back at him in French, before getting back into his car and driving westbound along Grande Route de la Côte on the wrong side of the road.

Around 30 minutes later, as the defendant reached Gorey, he crashed head-on ‘at high-speed’ into another vehicle before mounting the pavement and driving off.

Later, a States police officer recovered parts of Le Goff’s vehicle, including a piece of the bumper, from a bank on Rue de la Maiterie in St Martin and suspected that a vehicle had driven head-on into the bank.

At 11.30pm, another officer found parts of shredded tyres in the road opposite St Martin’s School and near Jersey Zoo.

The next day, at 5.14am, Le Goff awoke in his ‘severely damaged’ Volkswagen on a country lane in Trinity and phoned the police to say that he was lost and that he had crashed his car.

Officers attended the scene and found vomit next to the defendant’s car. The Frenchman then failed a roadside breath test and was arrested, later providing a reading of 25mg of alcohol within 100ml of breath.

However, the States analyst later estimated that Le Goff’s breath-alcohol concentration at the time of the first collision could have been between 54mg and 164mg and was most likely to have been 104mg. The legal limit is 35mg.

Advocate Luke Sette, defending, opened his case by admitting to the court that, as his client was a foreign national with no ties to the Island, it was unlikely he could be handed a non-custodial sentence.

Instead, he asked for a reduction in the prosecution’s recommendation of 18 months’ imprisonment arguing that there were exceptional circumstances – including a workplace accident in November 2015 in which he lost a large part of his leg and nearly died.

He added that he was now housebound, unable to work and that his marriage had suffered as a result.

‘He is no longer able to provide for his family in the way that he previously did and is still pursuing damages for his accident. To date, he has only been sent a food basket from his employer,’ he said.

He added that his client thanked God that no one had been hurt.

Le Goff, an amateur rapper who has recorded seven albums and whose work has been covered in the French media, pleaded guilty to dangerous driving, drink-driving and failing to report an accident.

In sentencing, Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae, presiding, said: ‘This was an extremely severe example of dangerous driving over a long period. It is certainly so serious that only a custodial sentence can be justified.’

He told the defendant the court hoped he could start rebuilding his life when he went back to France and sentenced him to 12 months in prison and disqualified him from driving for four years.

Jurats Rozanne Thomas and Robert Christensen were also sitting.

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