Philip Steven Goguelin (47) was also issued with two restraining orders at the Royal Court yesterday to prevent him from contacting the pair.
The court heard that the victims were left with not only physical injuries but also lasting psychological harm.
The assaults were ‘deliberate and sustained attacks’, said Crown Advocate Christina Hall, prosecuting. She added that Goguelin ‘repeatedly demonstrated himself as a danger to women with whom he becomes emotionally involved’, and had shown no remorse. He was found guilty after a three-day trial earlier this year.
The first attack happened on the evening of 22 August 2020, after Goguelin and the woman had been drinking together at her St Helier flat. Advocate Hall said that when the woman tried to leave, Goguelin grabbed her by the chin, punched her three times in the stomach and asked ‘if she could take another’. He then threw her to the floor and continued to punch her. The woman eventually escaped after a five-minute ordeal, and reported him the following day.
Advocate Hall said the second woman described Goguelin as ‘aggressive and overbearing’ when he was drunk. He attacked her, also in her St Helier home, on 21 September last year after they had been drinking and she tried to leave. She was cut while defending herself after he picked up a knife from the kitchen draining board during a 30-minute assault in which Goguelin also bit her face, grabbed and pushed her. She also managed to flee her home and report him to the authorities.
‘A person is entitled to feel safe in their own home,’ Advocate Hall said.
Medical forensic examiners, who gave evidence during Goguelin’s trial, found the women had numerous injuries, some of which were in areas difficult to bruise and would, they said, have required blunt force.
In personal victim statements read out in court, the women spoke of the psychological issues they were left with, including PTSD and increased levels of anxiety. One said she had panic attacks and the other said she was constantly looking over her shoulder. Both sought restraining orders, which were not opposed.
Advocate Julian Gollop, defending, said it was a ‘rare case’ where there was ‘very little by way of mitigation’. He cited Goguelin’s difficult upbringing and alcohol dependency.
‘What is quite clear is the one constant factor that has been in his life is alcohol,’ said Advocate Gollop.
The lawyer added that since Goguelin had been released from prison for a previous offence, which involved breaching a restraining order after he attacked another woman in a similar fashion, his drinking had become ‘out of control’ and ‘excessive’.
Goguelin pleaded not guilty to attacking his victims, resulting in a trial in April in which the women and other witnesses gave evidence. Goguelin did not give evidence. A jury spent just over three hours deliberating, before convicting him of two counts of grave and criminal assault.
Yesterday, he was sentenced to 18 months for the first assault, and 3½ years for the second. The sentences are to run consecutively.
Delivering the court’s sentence, Commissioner Sir William Bailhache, presiding, said: ‘Homes ought to be a place of security and sanctuary. There is often an accumulative effect that causes lasting trauma to the victims. The world becomes a very frightening place.’
Jurats Jerry Ramsden, Anthony Olsen and Steven William Austin-Vautier were sitting.
