A MAN who spat in a police officer’s mouth – putting her at risk of serious infection – has been jailed for a year.
The officer has had to undergo tests for HIV and hepatitis and will need to face further tests after Jay Wallace assaulted her on the night of 15 September.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that Wallace (23) had entered Robin Hood takeaway in Union Street that evening while drunk, and when staff refused him service he became threatening and abusive. A woman and her daughter who had just entered the takeaway immediately left.
Crown Advocate Lauren Taylor, prosecuting, said that shortly afterwards Wallace punched two people, knocking them to the ground and breaking one victim’s glasses. “These were punches with some force,” she said.
Police officers who responded to the incident thought Wallace could have been under the influence of drugs, so took him to Accident and Emergency. He assaulted three of them in a treatment room.
“He kicked out and he spat at one officer so that his spittle landed in her mouth,” the advocate said. “As a result, she has to have blood tests every three months for HIV and hepatitis. It is really worrying.”
Wallace also stole £66 worth of vodka in July and assaulted a police officer while drunk and disorderly in January last year, shortly after he first arrived in the Island. The court heard that he also had 15 previous convictions in his native Scotland.
He has agreed to have blood tests himself to confirm whether there was any possibility that he could have infected the police officer.
Advocate Stephen Wauchope, defending, said that Wallace had been drunk when he committed the offences on 15 September, adding: “He doesn’t recognise himself from that evening. He is a completely different person.”
He told the court that Wallace suffered from mental-health problems, including deep-seated paranoia and insecurity, but did not have a GP in Jersey so had been unable to access treatment.
His offences are part of a series of incidences of spitting at police officers and general assaults on members of the emergency services, estimated to have doubled in the past year.
Jailing him, Assistant Magistrate Adam Clarke said: “This sentence sends a message that assaults on blue-light-services staff will not be tolerated and will attract a custodial sentence, even for a first offences or with a guilty plea.”
Of the spitting, he said: “This has caused terrible distress for an officer who was only trying to do her job.”
Wallace was also ordered to pay her £1,000 in compensation, £350 in compensation to the man whose glasses he broke and £66 to the shop from which he stole the vodka.
