Dan Santos-Costa (https://www.linkedin.com/company/18837980/admin/) , instructed by Aftab Zahoor at Clayton Solicitors (https://www.linkedin.com/company/18837980/admin/) , secured a community order for his client at Warwick Crown Court.
Dan’s client was initially charged with s.18 wounding with intent, and possession of a bladed article. He pleaded guilty to the lesser offence of s.20 unlawful wounding and possession of a bladed article on the first day of trial. The sentencing Judge considered this offence to fall into Category 2A, with a starting point of 3 years’ imprisonment. The defendant crossed a significant age threshold at the time of sentence.
In mitigation, Dan successfully argued that, applying the principles established in Ghafoor [2002] EWCA Crim 1857, the starting point should be the likely sentence that D would have received if sentenced on the date the offence was committed. Considering Ghafoor, together with the time D had spent on remand and D’s personal mitigation, the sentencing Judge imposed a 24-month community order with conditions.
Dan’s full profile – https://greatjames.co.uk/members/Dan-Santos-Costa/