Osman, R v

A premeditated intentional stabbing with a knife is a very serious offence. Sentencing must reflect legitimate public concern and the need to deter the carrying and use of potentially lethal weapons. The adult sentencing range for premeditated wounding under Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 provides important guidance, but it must be adjusted for the individual offender and offence.

Particular weight may be given to youth, a guilty plea, absence of previous violence or weapons offending, the nature and location of the injury, and any accepted provocation. A sentence suitable for an adult may therefore be manifestly excessive for a 17-year-old offender.

The appellant, aged 17 when the offence was committed, pleaded guilty at the Inner London Crown Court to wounding with intent after deliberately stabbing the complainant once in the leg with a kitchen knife. The injury was treated with sutures and healed fully.

He received five and a half years’ detention in a young offender institution. The sentencing judge accepted some provocation but found that it was insignificant compared with the deliberate armed stabbing. The appellant appealed against sentence, contending that the term was manifestly excessive in light of his age, late guilty plea, non-violent record, and the relatively limited injury.

1. Appeal allowed against sentence. The sentence of five and a half years’ detention was quashed and replaced by four years’ detention in a young offender institution.

2. The court stressed that premeditated carrying and use of a knife to inflict an intentional stab wound is necessarily very serious offending. It may have fatal consequences. Sentencing must therefore reflect public concern and the need for condign and deterrent sentences. The applicable Definitive Guideline for wounding with intent contrary to section 18 of the Offences Against the Persons Act 1861 identified an adult starting point of eight years, within a range of seven to ten years, for premeditated weapon use without life-threatening or particularly grave injury.

3. That guideline starting point was based on a first-time adult offender convicted after trial. It could not be applied without adjustment to this appellant. He was 17, had pleaded guilty, and had no previous convictions for violence or weapons offences. The wound was a single, relatively non-serious stab to the leg rather than the abdomen, and the judge had accepted that there had been some provocation.

4. Although the original sentence might have been appropriate for an adult offender, these mitigating features made it excessive and manifestly so for this appellant. The appropriate determinate sentence was four years’ detention.

• Court of Appeal (Criminal Division): Allowed the appeal against sentence and substituted four years’ detention in a young offender institution.
• Inner London Crown Court: Following a guilty plea, imposed five and a half years’ detention in a young offender institution for wounding with intent.