SENTENCING STATEMENTS

On sentencing, Judge McCallum KC said:

“Shaun Charles, on 7 June 2024 at Glasgow High Court, you pleaded guilty to four charges, Charges 1, 2, 5 and 6 on the indictment that you faced.

In terms of Charge 5, you pleaded guilty to a charge of assault by repeatedly stabbing your victim Charles Knight with a knife to his severe injury, permanent disfigurement and to the danger of his life.

In terms of your guilty plea to that charge, the Crown elected to delete the further allegation of attempted murder.

As the agreed narrative that was read to the court discloses, on the morning of 16 October 2021, for reasons best known to yourself, you embarked on a course of vandalism that involved you smashing a window at a property and slashing the tyres of a number of motor vehicles. That conduct is reflected in Charges 1 and 2 on the indictment.

To slash the tyres, you used what has been described as a 'hunting knife' that you were in possession of.

I have had the benefit of seeing that knife. It has a blade of approximately ten inches in length that is serrated and tapers to a sharp, curved point. It is a fearsome weapon that can properly be described as lethal, if not murderous.

Turning to Charge 5, as you proceeded to slash the tyres of a Ford motor car, the owner of that car, Mr Christopher Knight, became aware of you doing so and, with commendable, and indeed remarkable, bravery, confronted you with a view to detaining you pending the arrival of police officers.

In the struggle that ensued, you proceeded to stab Mr Knight three times in the abdomen with that same lethal hunting knife that you had been using to slash his car tyres.

Notwithstanding those injuries, again with remarkable courage and resolve, Mr Knight was able to maintain a hold of you until the police arrived to detain you.

In repeatedly stabbing Mr Knight, you caused him very serious and indeed life-threatening injuries. By way of illustration of the severity of your attack upon Mr Knight, when police officers arrived on the scene, they found that a portion of Mr Knight's intestines were protruding from his abdomen.

He required emergency surgery.

He will be left permanently and visibly scarred by your assault upon him.

In terms of the two Victim Impact Statements that I have seen, it is clear that your attack upon him has had significant and long-lasting effects on Mr Knight.

Once within the police station, you proceeded to assault a police officer to his injury. That conduct is reflected in Charge 6.

I have listened carefully to all that has been said on your behalf today; and have had regards to the terms of the limited Criminal Justice Social Work Report and Risk Assessment.

That Report and Risk Assessment are both limited because you frustrated the interview process by your behaviour during interview where you acted in a confrontational and aggressive manner towards the social worker who was interviewing you; so that he had to terminate that interview.

However, the limited Report that the social worker was able to prepare confirms:-

• your lack of insight into your offending or any remorse for it;
• the fact that you, in effect, blamed your victim Mr Knight for what you described as his stupidity in challenging you; and
  
• the clear risk of serious harm that your inability to deal with conflict or difficult situations, as you perceive them, presents to others.
  

I find little by way of mitigation in this case.

The fact that it is said that you yourself have been the victim of a serious assault makes it all the more reprehensible that you would  commit such a serious and life-threatening assault upon another person - especially in a situation where that other person was trying to prevent you committing a crime.

The simple, common sense analysis of the circumstances here is that you chose to arm yourself with a lethal weapon and use it to commit crime. When one of the victims of that criminality then confronted you, you then proceeded to use that same lethal weapon to stab him repeatedly causing very serious and life-threatening injuries.

Your comment to the police whilst being taken to the police station, namely:

'Get this done quickly. I have got dogs to look after. It's only an assault, so get me out quick.'

is both concerning and instructive of how little insight you have into the gravity of your actions.

You are now 26 years of age. Although you have not previously been sentenced to a custodial sentence, nonetheless you have a number of convictions for aggravated assault and a separate conviction for possession of an offensive weapon, namely a baseball bat.

All these previous convictions, together with Charge 5, and indeed Charge 6, on the present indictment, indicate your clear propensity to commit crimes of violence.

As an example of offences of this type, the offence in Charge 5 that you have pleaded guilty to, in my view, falls towards the high end of the range of such offences in terms of its gravity, the level of your culpability and the level of harm caused by you.

In this case, I am quite satisfied that the objectives of punishment, deterrence and public protection outweigh any other sentencing objectives.

In regards to Charge 5, I am also quite satisfied that, in all the circumstances, and given what is contained in the truncated Criminal Justice Social Work Report, the requirements of s. 210A of the Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 and the need to protect the public from the risk of serious harm that you will pose upon your release from custody are met so that I should impose an Extended Sentence in relation to that charge.

Accordingly, I impose the following sentence or sentences:-

In relation to Charge 1, I impose a sentence of 4 months' imprisonment. This sentence has been modified from a headline sentence of 6 months' imprisonment down to 5 months' imprisonment to reflect the timing of your guilty plea; and then further modified down to 4 months' imprisonment to reflect your earlier time on remand in relation to the matters on the present indictment.

In relation to Charge 2, I impose a sentence of 4 months' imprisonment. This sentence has been modified from a headline sentence of 6 months' imprisonment down to 5 months' imprisonment to reflect the timing of your guilty plea; and then further modified down to 4 months' imprisonment to reflect your earlier time on remand in relation to the matters on the present indictment.

In respect of Charge 5, I impose an Extended Sentence in terms of s. 210A of Criminal Procedure (Scotland) Act 1995 of 10 years, comprising firstly of a Custodial Element of 8 years' imprisonment.

The Custodial Element of this sentence has been modified from a headline custodial element of 9 years' imprisonment down to 8 years and 1 months' imprisonment to reflect the timing of your guilty plea; and then further modified down to 8 years' imprisonment to reflect your earlier time on remand in relation to the matters on the present indictment.

The Extension Period thereafter in relation to Charge 5 will be for a period of 2 years.

In relation to Charge 6, I impose a sentence of 7 months' imprisonment. This sentence has been modified from a headline sentence of 9 months' imprisonment down to 8 months' imprisonment to reflect the timing of your guilty plea; and then further modified down to 7 months' imprisonment to reflect your earlier time on remand in relation to the matters on the present indictment.

The sentences  imposed in respect of Charges 1, 2, 5 and 6 will be ordered to run concurrently and to date from 7 June 2024 when I remanded you into custody following your guilty pleas.

The net effect is that you will serve a period of 8 years' imprisonment to date from 7 June 2024 followed by an Extension Period thereafter of 2 years.

That is all.”

25 July 2024