Rushnay Sikander, instructed by JDS Solicitors, represented a 19-year-old defendant for sentence at the Central Criminal Court for Possession of indecent images of children (Cat A). As part of the sentence, Rushnay was able to persuade the court not to impose a Sexual Harm Prevention Order (SHPO) by highlighting each limb of s.346 of the Sentencing Act 2020.
Rushnay’s submissions included requesting the court to apply pragmatism when approaching sentence and take into account the individualistic facts of the case. In addition, she outlined the lack of necessity and proportionality in imposing a SHPO, whether the court could really see whether the defendant was a real risk to the public, and the dire affect a SHPO would have to the defendant’s future.
Even though there were substantial aggravating factors, Rushnay further persuaded the court to step outside the sentencing guidelines and impose a Community Order by highlighting the significant delay in prosecution and the age and lack of maturity of the defendant citing the principles in R v Clarke, Andrews and Thompson [2018] and R v Hayward & Weaving [2019].
Rushnay’s full profile: https://greatjames.co.uk/members/rushnay-sikander/
To instruct Rushnay, please contact the clerking team at clerks@greatjames.co.uk or on 0207 440 4040.