SENTENCING STATEMENTS
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HMA v Andrew Evan McCarry
Feb 24, 2021
On sentencing, Lord Arthurson made the following statement in court:
“Andrew Evan McCarry, on 26 January 2021 at a continued preliminary hearing at Glasgow High Court you tendered pleas of guilty to a charge of assault to injury and danger of life and a charge of attempting to defeat the ends of justice. Each of these charges is libelled with an aggravation in terms of the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Act 2016 section 1. The agreed pleas of guilty were arranged in advance of the first preliminary hearing, but you did not attend court and a warrant was issued in respect of you. An explanation for your failure to attend has been put forward on your behalf, but I note that you required to be arrested on the warrant rather than hand yourself in or deal with the matter by arrangement. You have been remanded on that warrant since 22 January 2021.
You assaulted your victim by repeatedly punching and kicking her on the head and body and seizing her by the throat and choking her. When later examined, one of your shoes had your victim’s blood staining on it. The police scene examiner and a police officer observed blood spatter on two walls at the locus. To avoid detection and arrest you thereafter instructed your victim to give false information to ambulance staff and police officers, to the effect that she had been attacked by an unknown male, rather than by yourself.
You have accrued to date eight groups of previous convictions. These have all thus far been at summary level. You have assaulted family members and breached community based disposals. You have one conviction for offending involving a knife.
The criminal justice social work report which has been prepared for today’s sentencing hearing records the view of the author that while you have expressed genuine feelings of remorse, you have minimal insight into the impact of your criminal conduct upon your victim and you lack empathy. You have been assessed as presenting a high risk of serious harm to those with whom you may have relationships.
I have listened with care to the submissions advanced this morning on your behalf by your counsel, and I note in particular what has been said regarding your genuine expression of remorse, your age, your family and social background and the circumstances pertaining to your early pleas of guilty.
The offending before the Court today comprises, firstly, sustained violent conduct by you towards your victim, including repeated kicks to the head and manual neck compression, the latter with the potential to have caused death, and, secondly, coercive manipulative conduct towards her in order to avoid your own responsibility for that crime of violence.
The only appropriate disposal in your case will in these circumstances require to be a substantial custodial one. The gravity of your whole libelled offending on this indictment is considerable and marks a significant escalation in your offending behaviour. You will in addition not benefit from the level of discount which your early plea would otherwise have entitled you to, standing the granting of a warrant by the Court and your arrest thereon.
Turning to disposal, you will serve on charges 2 and 3, on an in cumulo basis, a period of 5 years imprisonment, which period is discounted from a period of 6 years due to the timing and procedural history relative to your plea in this case. I attribute a 6 month period of that in cumulo sentence to the aggravations libelled in terms of the 2016 Act. The sentence will be backdated to 22 January 2021.”