A MAN with 133 previous convictions who grabbed a woman by the neck and pushed her hard – bruising her chest – has been jailed for 15 months for grave and criminal assault.
Wayne Christopher Metcalfe (51) attacked the woman after they had been drinking together on the afternoon of 23 June last year, and later began arguing.
Metcalfe grabbed the woman by the neck and squeezed so that she struggled to breathe, the Royal Court heard.
Crown Advocate Carla Carvalho, prosecuting, said: “He pushed her in the chest, causing four bruises.”
A woman living in the flat beneath the victim’s heard the argument and banging noises and called the States police.
A police doctor who examined the victim confirmed that the bruises to her neck and chest, and the sore throat she complained of, had been caused by an assault.
Metcalfe appeared in the Magistrate’s Court on 26 June and pleaded not guilty to grave and criminal assault. He later changed his plea to guilty.
Advocate Carvalho pointed out that Metcalfe had 133 previous convictions, including 12 for violence, and commented: “He cannot be said to be of previous good character. He is at high risk of general reconviction.”
She recommended a sentence of 15 months and a restraining order barring him from having any contact with the woman for five years.
Advocate David Steenson, defending, accepted there would be a jail sentence but argued that 15 months was too long.
He pointed out that the victim had claimed Metcalfe had banged her head against a wall seven times, but this had been false.
He said: “This is a situation where the incident was provoked by the victim, and she gave an account that was significantly embellished. Parts of the allegations made against him were untrue.”
Advocate Steenson said that Metcalfe had come to Jersey from England for work and now planned to return there, so the restraining order was unnecessary.
“He has no intention of ever coming back,” he said.
But the court imposed the restraining order and the prison sentence.
Deputy Bailiff Robert MacRae told Metcalfe: “You have a proven history of violence and you accept limited responsibility for what you did.”
The Jurats sitting were Jane Ronge and Andrew Cornish.
