Francesca represented a defendant who had recently turned 18 years old at Camberwell Green Magistrates Court for his sentencing hearing.

When he was a youth and in a youth detention centre, he boiled up water, put sugar in it and threw it in an officer’s face. He went on to cause further injury by assaulting two other officers. He was charged with attempted GBH, two assault by beating charges and two counts of witness intimidation towards the officers.

He was convicted in his absence at the Magistrates Court and spent a period of time in custody having been remanded by the District Judge. The defendant had numerous previous convictions including robbery, assault, burglary, dangerous driving and failure to comply with Court Orders. The defendant faced 5 years in custody as a starting point in prison which would have meant the client would have been remanded back in to custody to await his Crown Court sentencing hearing.

Francesca successfully argued to the District Judge that the client could be sentenced by way of a two year Youth Referral Order which included a number of requirements, including Community Payback and intensive supervision. The argument was successful because he was no longer in the unit this occurred in, he had been the victim of a knifepoint kidnap shortly before the offences took place and that a lengthy period of custody would be detrimental to his mental health difficulties.