SENTENCING STATEMENTS
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When deciding a sentence, a judge must deal with the offence that the offender has been convicted of, taking into account the unique circumstances of each particular case. The judge will carefully consider the facts that are presented to the Court by both the prosecution and by the defence.
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Read more about victims of crime and sentencing.
HMA v Sean Twigg
Aug 29, 2022
On sentencing, Lord Doherty said:
"Sean Twigg, you have pled guilty to an assault to severe injury and to the danger of life. Sadly, it seems that alcohol played a significant part in what you did, and it is to be hoped that in the future you will succeed in addressing that. However, the assault was a concerted one in which you acted together with at least one other assailant. Your part of the attack began before and continued after the other assailant’s part. It is clear that the attack on the victim was a vicious and sustained one. Your co-assailant struck the victim on the head with a glass bottle causing him to fall to the ground where he appeared to be motionless. Rather than disassociating yourself from what your co-assailant had done by stopping your attack, you continued it when your victim was in that defenceless position. You punched him forcefully to the head repeatedly and you then kicked him to the head. You then had to be stopped from inflicting further blows. The victim sustained three fractures to his face and skull, a bleed to the left side of his brain, and soft tissue damage and severe bruising to his face.
"You have a lengthy record of previous convictions, some of which involve violence and some involving weapons. You have served several custodial sentences. In 2018 you were convicted on indictment of a contravention of section 47(1) of the Criminal Law Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1995, which involved a knife, for which you were sentenced to 16 months’ imprisonment. In 2019 you were convicted of an assault involving a bottle for which you were ultimately sentenced to 96 days’ imprisonment. In 2020 you were convicted on indictment of an assault with intent to rob, a breach of s 38(1) of the Criminal Justice and Licensing (Scotland) Act 2010, a breach of s 49(1) of the Criminal Law Consolidation (Scotland) Act 1995, and culpable and reckless conduct, for which you received a cumulo sentence of 22 months’ imprisonment. The last three of those offences involved a knife. Your record also contains more than 20 bail offences and bail aggravations. You were on bail and subject to police undertaking conditions at the time of this offence.
"The headline sentence which I would have imposed for this offence had you not pled guilty would have been 7 years and 6 months’ imprisonment, 6 months of which would have been attributable to the bail aggravation. However, I give you full credit for pleading guilty at this early stage. The sentence which I will therefore impose for this offence is 5 years imprisonment, of which 4 months is attributable to the bail aggravation.
"At the time of the offence you had been released on licence from prison and the unexpired portion of your sentence was 389 days. You were on remand for this offence for 73 days. That is one of the factors which I take account of when fixing the period which I order your return to prison. In the whole circumstances I fix that period at 250 days which will run from be today’s date. It will be served before and be followed by the sentence of 5 years’ imprisonment which I impose for this offence.”