Man who threw crutch at Greffier jailed for 21 months

Robert Kevin Passman appeared in the Royal Court yesterday where he was also sentenced for malicious damage, false imprisonment and common assault, owing to offences committed on two other occasions.

Crown Advocate Rebecca Morley Kirk said that during the first set of offences on 12 September last year, Passman, who was aged 30 at the time, became embroiled in an argument with a woman at her home.

The dispute began after Passman showed her a video on his phone and claimed it showed him being raped by an unknown man and that the woman had planned the whole thing and filmed it.

When she denied it he assaulted her, punching her in the face. The court was told the attack had caused extensive swelling to her eye socket.

The police were called to the property and Passman was arrested. While in custody, he said: ‘You don’t need to question me, I one hundred per cent did it.’

He claimed he was ‘within his rights to smack her’ after what she had done.

Passman was sentenced by the Royal Court

While being held in custody, Passman repeatedly kicked the wall of his cell so violently that he damaged tendons in his leg and had to be taken to hospital. He was treated and given a set of crutches to help him walk.

Officers investigated Passman’s claim that the woman had drugged him and filmed a man raping him but could find no evidence to support it.

The defendant later appeared in the Magistrate’s Court charged with assault.

Advocate Morley Kirk said that when Passman was refused bail he hurled a crutch at the Greffier, vaulted over the railings of the dock and shouted: ‘So you are sending a rape victim to prison?’

She added that, as court officers tried to restrain him, he punched out twice and thrashed about on the floor. The court’s emergency alarm was activated and five staff members eventually managed to hold him down.

During the third incident at La Moye Prison, the defendant objected to the cell he had been allocated and, in protest, damaged it extensively. Addressing the court, Advocate Morley Kirk called for a 21-month sentence to be imposed

Advocate Frances Littler, defending, said the prosecution’s sentence was too severe and said her client should instead be ordered to complete a term of community service and receive a probation order. She added that if he did have to go to prison it should only be for a term of one year.

In sentencing, Commissioner Julian Clyde-Smith described the assault on the woman as ‘vicious’ and said the escape from the dock had caused ‘considerable fear’.

Jurats Jane Ronge and Elizabeth Dulake were also sitting.

– Advertisement –
– Advertisement –