Attackers had racist motives

TWO teenagers will both spend more than three years in youth detention after two racial attacks in St Peter Port. On one night in December, Joe de Garis and Steven O'Connor attacked a house where five Portuguese people were living and then beat up a Latvian woman in Mill Street, taking her handbag and breaking her arm. De Garis also assaulted police when he was arrested.

In the Royal Court, Deputy Bailiff Geoffrey Rowland called the attack on the woman unprovoked, cowardly and horrific.

Advocates for the two men denied racist motives, but Mr Rowland said: 'It must be conveyed that racism is evil and is not compatible with a community where tolerance mainly exists.'

Both men were 17 when they met two Portuguese men in Hauteville after a night drinking in a pub.

They spoke briefly, argued and then the accused shouted racial abuse at the men. O'Connor threw a dustbin and when the men ran inside, they attacked the door and house with pipes and pots.

But when they realised that police had been called, they ran away.

A little later they passed a woman in Mill Street and exchanged words.

Then de Garis grabbed the woman by the jacket and pushed her to the ground. She was abused for being Latvian.

De Garis started kicking her and she tried to protect her head. O'Connor then joined in. De Garis grabbed her handbag and they both ran off.

The woman's arm was fractured in the attack.

The Portuguese victims identified the two men later that night and they were arrested. De Garis struggled, swore and had to be restrained.

He knocked one officer to the floor and struck another in the face, cutting his mouth and bruising his arm.

In an interview, they told police they retaliated after the Portuguese men attacked them.

They blamed each other for the attack on the woman. O'Connor said he joined in because he thought de Garis was trying to steal her handbag. De Garis denied any involvement, even though CCTV footage showed him carrying a handbag.

Counsel for de Garis said he had no previous history of violence. O'Connor had a suspended sentence for theft and violence hanging over him, but a custodial sentence would be his first.

De Garis, 18, of no fixed address, was sentenced to a total of three years and six months' youth detention, dating back to his arrest in December. This included eight months for affray, 31 months consecutive for grievous bodily harm, three months concurrent for theft, three months consecutive for assaulting police and two months concurrent for obstructing police.

O'Connor, 17, also with no permanent address, was sentenced to three years and three months' youth detention, also from December. He was sentenced to eight months for affray and 31 months consecutive for the robbery.

They pleaded guilty to all charges.