Appeals court reduces stabbing sentence to 10 years

Court of Appeal judges have reduced the sentence of Jonathan Alexander Woodhouse, whose was convicted of stabbing a man during a bar fight, from 13 years to 10.

Woodhouse, 30, in April last year was convicted of wounding with intent to cause grievous harm for the stabbing of a man during a fight at Carib Café in George Town on the night of 5 May 2023.

During the incident, another man, Randy Robinson, 37, was killed. Woodhouse was acquitted of murder and manslaughter charges in relation to Robinson’s death, but convicted for stabbing and chopping the second victim with a 12-inch knife. His co-accused Shaun Jackson was convicted and jailed for killing Robinson.

Recounting details of the night of the attacks in their judgment, published on 19 Sept., the Court of Appeal judges noted that the stabbing victim and his wife had gone to Carib Café, on Shedden Road, where there was a party on the night of 5 May 2023. As the couple walked towards the café, after parking their car, he said something about celebrating his birthday and raised his arms, shouting, “Boop! Boop! Boop!”

During the trial, the court had heard that Woodhouse, along with Jackson and another man, who were walking towards the couple at that time, felt they had been disrespected.

“Jackson was already armed with a knife, but [Woodhouse] went back to the car in which he and his friends had arrived and armed himself with a large bladed knife,” the judges noted.

Later, in the bar area, Jackson rushed towards the man, who fled to the nearby stage, where Woodhouse attacked him with his knife in what were described as “chopping motions”.

Lifelong scarring from injuries

The victim suffered a 4-inch wound to his right forearm, which exposed his elbow joint, and a 5.5-inch wound to his left bicep muscle. In his victim impact statement, he said that as a result of the attack, he had lifelong scarring to both arms, as well as an internal injury to his left bicep which had affected the strength in his left arm. He said he also suffered psychological impacts from the attack.

Woodhouse had a number of previous convictions, including one in 2020 for wounding with intent, for which he received a 26-month sentence.

Attorney Philip Rule, KC, representing Woodhouse in his appeal case, argued that Justice Marlene Carter, the Grand Court trial judge, had committed an “error in principle” in determining that the victim’s injuries amounted to “greater harm” when considering sentencing guidelines.

Crown prosecutor Martin Mulgrew told the appeals court judges that Justice Carter had been best placed to consider the appropriate categorisation of the harm suffered and it was open to her to conclude that victim’s injuries amounted to harm which was serious in the context of the offence.

In their ruling, the appeal judges said, “We do not underestimate the seriousness of the injuries inflicted on the victim in this case and the effect which the incident has had on him. Nevertheless, we are of the clear opinion that the injuries … cannot properly be categorised as harm which is ‘significantly above the level of harm which is the norm for these offences”.”

They accepted Rule’s contention that Carter had erred in principle when she determined that the offence fell within category 1 of the sentencing guidelines, which suggests a starting point of 12 years. The appeals judges said the offending fell within category 2 of the guidelines, which has a starting point of six years’ imprisonment.

‘Considerable’ culpability

The judges said Woodhouse’s level of culpability was “considerable”, as he had gone back to his car to arm himself with a large knife “well before any violence had broken out”, and had struck the victim with “chopping motions”. Therefore, they upped the starting point to nine years.

They agreed with Carter’s consideration of the aggravating and mitigating factors in the case, which had led her to add another year to the sentence.

“Accordingly, we allowed this appeal to the extent of substituting a sentence of 10 years’ imprisonment for the term of 13 years imposed by the judge,” they said.