A PROFESSIONAL cricketer, who has featured at two World Cups, has been jailed for three years after he followed a woman through St Helier before attacking her, knocking her to the ground and running off with her phone.
Papua New Guinea international Kipling Doriga pleaded guilty to one charge of robbery, with the Royal Court told that he had decided to pursue his victim after seeing her leaving a nightclub and putting a mobile phone in her handbag.
The 30-year-old had been in Jersey to compete for his country in the International Cricket Council Challenge League, a global tournament which forms part of the qualification process for the 2027 Cricket World Cup. Having been held in custody since the incident on Monday 25 August, he is now set to serve the remainder of his sentence at HMP La Moye before being deported.
Crown Advocate Emma Hollywood, prosecuting, said the victim had been socialising with friends at the Royal Yacht before leaving to walk home after the venue closed at 2am, becoming increasingly concerned as she walked through St Helier that she was being followed.
The court was told that as the pursuer had caught up with the woman in Hilary Street, she had screamed at him to leave her alone and slapped him. This prompted the man to slap her twice, the second blow being so hard that it had knocked her to the pavement, and then grab her handbag and run off.
Advocate Hollywood said the bag had been found nearby, minus the victim’s mobile phone, which she later traced using a “find my phone” app to the hotel where the Papua New Guinea team were staying.
Police officers went to the hotel, spoke to Doriga and following his arrest, the court heard, he admitted that he had been drunk and had decided to follow the woman and steal her phone in order to sell it and help pay off a loan of £1,000.
In an extract from a statement that was read in court, the victim, aged in her late 20s, said she had been left traumatised by what had happened, suffering flashbacks, panic attacks and ongoing pain that meant she could not maintain her usual exercise regime.
“I have lost my sense of safety in the very community where I grew up,” she said. “It’s something that I will carry with me long after the physical bruises fade.”
Advocate Julia-Anne Dix, defending, said Doriga came from a modest background in Papua New Guinea and had been proud to have earned an opportunity to represent his country and travel the world as a professional cricketer from the age of 17, playing in nine international tournaments across his career.
A “good wage” of £285 per month enabled Doriga to be the main breadwinner for his family, comprised of his partner, her two children and a younger child they had adopted, the court heard, with the cricketer estimating that he could make £400 by selling the stolen phone.
Outside of cricket, Advocate Dix described Doriga’s life as “extremely basic”, with hunting buffalo and attending church among the ways he spent his time. The defendant’s father was a clergyman, she added.
The court heard that Doriga would lose a sporting career of which he had been proud, and that he felt a sense of shame for what he had done, for himself, his country, and for Jersey as host of the ICC tournament.
Advocate Dix said Doriga acknowledged the impact on his victim and felt a deep remorse for what he had done, which she described as inexcusable and completely out of character.
Presiding over the sentencing hearing, the Bailiff, Robert MacRae, said the case was so serious that custody was the only justifiable outcome.
“You targeted a lone woman, followed her and when you felt it was safe for you to do so you attacked her and stole her phone,” he said.
“The court has a duty to ensure the streets of St Helier are safe and to signal that this sort of offending will not be tolerated.”
Mr MacRae, who was presiding with Jurats Opfermann and Gardener, said the court was jailing Doriga for three years and recommended that he be deported from the Island after completing his sentence.
