TWO paramedics convicted of breaching health and safety laws after a patient died in their care have vowed to appeal against their convictions after they walked out of court yesterday with two-year conditional discharges.
Tom Le Sauteur (36) and John Sutherland (61) were found guilty by Jurats last month, with the verdict causing widespread anger among Jersey’s medical community.
Some medics claimed that the case set a dangerous precedent, while another branded it a “gross case of injustice”.
But despite receiving one of the lowest sentences possible – where their criminal records will be wiped after two years – both men say they want to clear their names completely and have the guilty verdicts overturned.
Speaking shortly after the sentencing in the Royal Court, Mr Le Sauteur said: “We are appealing because we are worried about the precedent this sets for other emergency-service and healthcare workers.”
Mr Sutherland added: “We can’t allow this to be the way things are. It can’t happen again.”
Meanwhile, Unite the union has called for a judicial review into the case after it was confirmed in court that the law used to prosecute the paramedics had never before been applied to individual employees in Jersey or anywhere in the UK.
The public gallery in the Royal Court was filled with relatives and colleagues of the two men when the sentences were announced yesterday.
Commissioner Sir John Saunders told the court he wanted to give a fuller explanation of the Jurats’ guilty verdicts than the one given at the conclusion of the trial on 26 June.
The paramedics had been called to the 39-year-old patient’s flat on 18 March 2022 after he made a 999 call and claimed he had taken an overdose.
When they arrived he became aggressive and refused their offer to take him to hospital, so they decided to call the States police for help in dealing with him, the court heard.
Sir John said: “They were perfectly entitled to call the police and wait for them to arrive. The decision to call the police cannot be criticised.”
However, he said that after the police arrived the paramedics should have taken better care to ensure that the man’s airways were clear and he was not at risk of choking on his own vomit.
He added: “There did not seem to be the sense of urgency to move him to hospital that there should have been.
“Once the police had arrived there was no danger in providing reasonable care to the man.”
Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, pointed out that the paramedics had pleaded not guilty, so did not qualify for the leniency granted to people convicted of an offence when they admit it.
He recommended fines of £5,000 for each man and an additional £1,500 each in costs.
But Advocate Ian Jones, defending Mr Sutherland, said: “If a fine is a deterrent, who is it going to deter? It is not going to deter anyone from doing anything.”
He added: “They have been punished enough.”
The sentencing Jurats – Jane Ronge and Michael Entwistle – ordered both men to pay £500 in costs.
A crowdfunding appeal launched to help the men pay their legal fees had raised over £47,000 of a £50,000 target by the time the JEP went to print yesterday.
The Ambulance Service will be conducting its own investigation into the incident, but the men, who are both suspended, said they hoped they would be allowed to return to work.
Mr Le Sauteur said that it was a “privilege to serve in the Ambulance Service”, while Mr Sutherland added: “I’ve done this for 36 years and I love my job.”
In a statement released after the sentencing, Unite regional officer James Turner said: “Unite believes there are serious questions to be asked about how the law has been applied in this case, whether that application was in the public interest and if the case should have been brought to trial.
“It is of the upmost importance for the individuals concerned, as well as the wider implications for healthcare, emergency or any other workers in Jersey, that a judicial review of the case is launched as quickly as possible.”
