Woman sent to prison for neck-slashing incident

Saturday 02 September 2017

A 41-year-old woman has been sentenced to three years in prison in the Royal Court after she slashed another woman's neck with a three-inch Swiss Army knife in April.

Ashley Anaise Hamon inflicted a serious injury to the woman - a wound 5cm long and 0.5cm deep - after they had been drinking at St James Wine Bar with a male friend shortly after midnight on a Wednesday evening.

The Court heard that the bar manager had asked Hamon to leave following a disagreement with a patron, and her friends followed. They tried to try to calm her down, but Hamon became agitated with her male friend for grabbing her elbows inside the bar. Hamon then put her arm around the neck of the victim the victim, who thought that Hamon was demonstrating what she wanted to do to the man.

Though she didn't feel or see the Swiss Army Knife, the victim noticed blood on her hands when she touched her neck after Hamon let go. The Court was told that victim had previously advised Hamon not to go out in public with the knife, as she had been recently reported as a missing person.

When Police arrived, the victim refused to make a complaint, saying that an unknown male had accidentally caused the injury. She later explained that she was in shock and frightened of talking to the Police in front of Hamon. According to the victim, the two had a complex relationship and that she felt intimidated by Hamon.

Pictured: The Royal Court, where the sentence was handed down.

Crown Advocate Chris Baglin said that the cut had not caused serious injury "only by good fortune." Nonetheless, he explained that the injury will leave a permanent scar, and that the incident, which occurred without provocation, impacted her mental health. With 66 previous offences on her record, he said that Hamon had been identified at a very high risk of reoffending.

Advocate Jane Grace, defending, said that the sentence should be reduced due to "strong mitigating factors." She explained that Hamon was in a poor mental state after being assaulted in March, causing a concussion that could be exacerbated by alcohol. She said that Hamon had never been warned of this.

She explained that Hamon has a strong aversion to being around men and that she lashed out after their friend grabbed her. She added that Hamon had childhood difficulties that still affect her, but that she was trying to address her issues with psychological help. "She is very distressed by what she did... She has been trying and trying again to make amends for what she has done and turn her life around. She continues to be supported in her effort to become a better person by her family," Advocate Grace said.

Handing down his sentence, the Bailiff Sir William Bailhache, who sat with Jurats Anthony Olsen and Sally Sparrow, said: "The Court has said on many many occasions that a grave and criminal assault in a public street in St Helier at night, after taking alcohol, will carry a custodial sentence." He suggested to her she tackled her drink problem and concluded that the right course was to sentence her to prison for three years.