Sentence includes weekend curfew

Kerry Ann Deborah Jackson was given a suspended sentence last week after pleading guilty to wounding, but she will have a weekend curfew for the next 12 months. 

Jackson, 22, was accused of wounding with intent to do grievous bodily harm to Debra Bush-Jefferson on the night of 10 October, 2010. After trial began, she pleaded guilty to the lesser charge of wounding on the basis that she did not intend to harm anyone, but was reckless by being in a fight.  

Justice Carol Beswick imposed sentence after setting out the facts of the case. She said the two young women were at a club in George Town with two or three other friends and they all had drinks together. 

When the club closed, they decided to go elsewhere to get something to eat, “but the concern of the group members was that the defendant was too inebriated to drive safely. The defendant was persuaded to allow herself to be driven in her car by one of her friends.” 

After arriving at the eatery, Jackson changed her mind and was determined to leave, driving herself, the judge continued. Jackson’s friend was exasperated and sought to dissuade her from driving. Someone tried to discourage her from driving by retaining the car keys. 

“Words became heated and eventually the exchange became physical between the two friends,” the judge said. Ms Bush-Jefferson and another friend tried to intervene to prevent fighting. 

“In the ensuing melee, the complainant felt a stinging sensation to her finger and noticed that the top joint of her right pinky finger had gone. She shouted in alarm to the defendant that she had bitten off her finger. The defendant’s response was to contort her face and then spit the piece of finger from her mouth onto the ground.” 

Ms Bush-Jefferson was rushed to the hospital, where the skin of the remaining portion of the finger was grafted. The tip itself could not be saved. “The healing process appears to have been satisfactory in the circumstances,” Justice Beswick noted. 

But the injured woman had endured pain, and the absent joint serves as a constant reminder of the incident. The injury must also affect the use of her hand, the judge continued. Miss Bush-Jefferson was at liberty to sue Jackson and obtain monetary redress in a civil court after a comprehensive assessment of her losses. 

Meanwhile, this was an appropriate case for a compensation order – an order that Jackson pay the medical bills totalling $1,205.09. 

Defence attorney Fiona Robertson and Crown Counsel Marilyn Brandt provided sentencing authorities for the court to consider. Along with them, Justice Beswick took into account Jackson’s previous good character and the fact that the injury was caused by a single bite rather than a sustained attack. 

The judge pointed out that Jackson had lost or was likely to lose the friendship of some of the persons involved in this incident. The unchallenged evidence was that the group regularly went out together and enjoyed socialising. 

“Indeed it may well be thought that this incident had its genesis in the desire of the defendant’s friends to protect her from herself. The evidence is that her friends considered that she often fell victim to excessive consumption of alcohol,” the judge commented. 

Other effects on Jackson were the result of her conviction – lost opportunity to travel abroad freely and possible limits on potential employment. 

Noting the guilty plea and sentencing guidelines along with all the other factors, the judge imposed a sentence of 12 months imprisonment, suspending it for 12 months. That meant, she explained, the imprisonment will not take effect unless Jackson commits another offence in the next 12 months that is punishable by imprisonment. 

She added two conditions: Jackson is to remain at her place of residence on Fridays, Saturdays and Sundays between the hours of 9pm and 6am for the whole of the 12 months and she is not to consume any alcoholic beverage in any public place for the 12 months of her sentence.