Trial of brawling restaurant staff ‘a drain on public purse’

Seven men brawled at the Sunken Garden last year, with six ending up before the Magistrate’s Court.

Five pleaded not guilty.

In sentencing yesterday, Judge Graeme McKerrell said the groups, who at the time worked at Octopus restaurant and Hotel de Havelet, had been spoiling for a fight.

CCTV footage was shown during the trial, with the men throwing punches and using a metal pole to hurt one another. Judge McKerrell described the footage as ‘slam-dunk evidence’.

‘I kept waiting for the golden bullet of the defence evidence to be fired,’ he said. ‘But it never came... it never came because it was not there begin with.’

Owain Turner, 38, Mateusz Wierzbicki, 25, and Julian Fressy, 24, had all denied using or threatening unlawful violence, but were found guilty after a lengthy trial.

Alexis Paul Bruno Le Bray, 23, pleaded guilty to the same charge before the trial.

Bruno Scafuro, 19, was found guilty at trial of affray, while Antonio Delucia, 21, pleaded guilty during the trial.

The case saw three translators brought in to cover the eight-day trial to translate the evidence into French, Italian and Polish for the defendants.

Judge Graeme McKerrell said the case was a ‘considerable drain on the public purse’.

‘I suspect this will be one of the most expensive Magistrate’s Court trials in some time, and in my opinion one that could have been avoided,’ he said.

He noted that some of the defendants had shown a cavalier attitude in the dock and time had been wasted by some of the defendants turning up late to hearings.

In terms of their behaviour at Ann’s Place, he said it was important that people coming to the island respected the rule of law.

‘If you come to live and work in Guernsey, then your behaviour will be judged by our standards and not the country you have come from,’ he said.

He added that this sort of ‘thuggish behaviour’ would not be tolerated.

Turner was sentenced to three months in prison for the violence charge. He had also pleaded guilty to having 0.5g of the Class A drug cocaine when he arrived in Guernsey on the ferry and was sentenced to two months in prison, consecutive. He had earlier pleaded guilty to not complying with bail and was sentenced to one week in prison, concurrent.

Fressy was sent to prison for six weeks and Delucia for four weeks. Scafuro was sentenced to four months youth detention.

Le Bray was sentenced to six weeks in prison, suspended for two years.

Wierzbicki had failed to attend probation appointments. He has been remanded in custody for two weeks while the report is prepared. As well as the violence charge, he also faces two counts of failing to answer bail.

The group were ordered to each pay a sixth share of £902.22 compensation, due to damage caused to car during the incident.