A 33-YEAR-OLD man who punched and kicked a woman in a ‘sustained and vicious assault’ in a St Helier hotel has been jailed for a year.
CCTV footage of the attack by Dermot Hackett in The Royal Yacht on 21 May was shown in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday.
The footage showed the victim hurrying into a lift and repeatedly pressing the button to close the door.
Hackett, who admitted a charge of grave and criminal assault, reached the lift before the door closed, forced his way in, punched her hard in the face and around the head, and then kicked her as she lay on the floor.
The court was also shown photographs of the victim’s injuries. She suffered bruises to her face and leg and to the back of her head, but declined medical treatment.
Advocate Rui Tremoceiro, defending, said: ‘He was and is mortified by what he has done.
‘He knows it was an inexcusable offence and could have no complaint if he is sentenced to imprisonment.’
He said Hackett had been drinking since midday before the attack.
However, he added that the victim herself did not want Hackett to go to prison.
Hackett has two young sons, and Advocate Tremoceiro argued that his imprisonment would adversely affect his children.
He said: ‘He has no one to blame but himself, but that does not diminish the pain his absence would cause in the minds of his young sons.’
Magistrate Bridget Shaw said the only appropriate sentence was prison.
She said: ‘This was a sustained and vicious assault which must have been terrifying.
‘Were it not for the mitigation I have heard I would have sent this up to the Royal Court.’
