Attacker’s friend filmed on mobile as punches rained
A MAN carried out a sustained attack on the ex-partner of a female friend and threatened him with a knife, while one friend yelled ‘smack him Daz, go on do it’, and another videoed the episode on a mobile phone.
Video footage of Darren Paul Rouget, 33, assaulting the victim in the victim’s own home was shown to the Royal Court, and he was sentenced to two years in prison.
Rouget, pictured right, who appeared in court from police custody, was shown in the video to be punching the victim repeatedly, while the friend shouted loudly using foul language ‘come on, Daz, do it’.
Police were able to seize the video footage because a concerned neighbour had spotted someone filming, and officers noted that the recording had already been widely shared to other individuals.
The court heard that Rouget had gone to the home of the victim on the night of 29 May.
The victim had heard a knock at the door and the voice of his former girlfriend.
When he opened the door he saw Rouget and tried to shut the door, but his assailant managed to kick his way in.
The victim retreated into the hallway and Rouget grabbed him by his collar and pushed him against the wall in the kitchen.
There Rouget picked up a kitchen knife that was next to the cooker and the victim heard him say ‘I’ll end your life’.
However, Rouget put the knife down and instead punched the victim repeatedly, and the victim reported hearing cracking sounds every time he was punched.
Rouget was accompanied by two friends; one friend was repeatedly yelling ‘go on Darren, hit him harder’, and the other friend was silent and was recording the attack on a mobile phone.
The video footage was played to the court twice.
Prosecuting, Crown Advocate Fiona Russell explained that two neighbours overheard loud banging and entered the property and heard Rouget say ‘do you want me to do you, because I’ll do you’.
The neighbours threatened to call the police and Rouget and his two friends left.
The next day the victim went to the Emergency Department at the hospital. He was found not to have any serious, long-term injuries and was discharged.
Initially in police interviews Rouget denied doing anything wrong, and said that the victim had previously threatened him and spoken badly about him.
After he was shown the video Rouget expressed remorse.
‘I do feel very bad for what happened last night, I wish I could turn back time.’
Defence advocate Phoebe Cobb told the court that her client had experienced ‘a moment of madness’, and she highlighted that while he had held the knife in the direction of the victim’s throat, he had not caused any physical injury with the knife.
It was explained that Rouget had had a difficult and chaotic upbringing marred by violence between his parents.
Advocate Cobb asked if the jail sentence could be kept to a minimum because there were mitigating factors, such as his early guilty plea, ‘he is sorry and he is ashamed’.
Handing down the prison term, Lt-Bailiff Russell Finch called the attack ‘alarming, dangerous and nasty’, and he noted that Rouget had a list of previous convictions, which he said made ‘depressing reading’.
