A MAN who bit a woman, broke her TV and refused to give police officers access to his phone was yesterday sentenced to nine months’ imprisonment – but released immediately due to the time he had already spent in custody.
Daniel Paul Wheeler (35) spent the equivalent of 20 months in custody waiting for his trial – at which a jury found found him not guilty of a number of more serious charges, including grave and criminal assault and false imprisonment.
He was sentenced at the Royal Court on one count of common assault, one of malicious damage, and two of failing to provide a key for a device.
Crown Advocate Luke Sette, prosecuting, said that Wheeler had been drunk when the assault happened on 29 May 2022.
The court heard that Wheeler told the woman he had been in an argument with a friend, and that the friend had to go to the Emergency Department. When the woman asked about the friend’s welfare, Wheeler thought she was siding with him and “raised his voice”.
“The victim put her right hand out with her index finger extended near to, but not on, the defendant’s face… the defendant responded by biting her hand,” the advocate said.
During the police interview, he admitted to being drunk at the time and wrongly claimed the woman had put her hand on his mouth. He told the police: “I think the bite is the only thing that was my bad. I shouldn’t have done that.”
More than a year later, in September 2023, Wheeler got into another argument with her, during which he punched her television, breaking it – though he later bought a replacement.
In September 2024, Wheeler refused to give the PINs to two phones which police had seized from him. His advocate said he had bought these phones as a replacement for phones seized earlier in the investigation.
Advocate Greg Herold-Howes, defending, said both Wheeler and the defendant knew how to “push each other’s buttons”, and that when Wheeler mentioned that she had slapped him, the officer in charge of the investigation “simply rejected” the claims. Giving evidence in court, the woman had later admitted to slapping Wheeler.
Being kept in custody for longer than his sentence had left Wheeler feeling “wronged by the system”, Advocate Herold-Howes said.
“In my submission, it is not difficult to have sympathy for that view,” he added.
Commissioner Alan Binnington, presiding, told Wheeler he was “bigger and stronger” than the woman, adding: “You were prone to losing your temper and becoming violent, particularly after consuming alcohol.”
Wheeler had “no excuse for behaving as [he] did,” the Commissioner said, adding: “Your relationship with women is something that you need to address.”
He sentenced Wheeler to six months’ imprisonment for the assault, one month for the malicious damage, and two months for each failure to disclose a PIN (concurrent to each other) – amounting to a total of nine months’ imprisonment, which Wheeler has already served.
He did not make any restraining or other orders.
Commissioner Binnington was presiding, with Jurats Andrew Cornish and Michael Powell sitting.
