Kate Riekstina, instructed by Alice Dyer of Shearman Bowen, was successful for her client in the Court of Appeal as fresh Counsel.
Kate’s client had pleaded guilty to offences of section 20 grievous bodily harm (GBH) and assault occasioning actual bodily harm (ABH) arising from an incident in a nightclub. Her client was originally sentenced to 26 months’ immediate custody (21 months imprisonment for the GBH and 5 months consecutive for the ABH). He was jointly charged with his co-defendant, who had pleaded guilty and been sentenced at an earlier date to concurrent sentences.
Following the refusal of permission to appeal by the Single Judge, Kate was instructed to advise on the merits of renewing the application for permission to appeal against sentence to the Full Court and to represent her client in front of the Full Court.
The argument was based on the fact that the Learned Judge had taken a different approach in sentencing the two defendants firstly by categorising the harm caused and secondly when ordering the sentences imposed to run consecutively, which Kate argued was wrong in principle and resulted in a sentence which was manifestly excessive.
The Court of Appeal granted leave to appeal against sentence and accepted these submissions, concluding that the appropriate level of harm was Category 3 as the Sentencing Judge had been correct in his initial assessment of the injury at the point of sentencing the co-defendant. The Court of Appeal also agreed that the sentences should properly be ordered to run concurrently.
As a result, her client’s original sentence of 26 months’ imprisonment was quashed and replaced with a total sentence of 18 months’ imprisonment.
Kate was expertly assisted by Alice Dyer of Shearman Bowen who worked tirelessly in assisting Kate in preparing the case for the Court of Appeal. Alice’s assistance was instrumental in securing the outcome at the Court of Appeal.
Kate’s full profile: https://greatjames.co.uk/members/kate-riekstina/
To instruct Kate, please contact the clerking team at clerks@greatjames.co.uk or on 0207 440 4949.