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Suspended sentence for Mustafa Bashir after physically, psychologically abusing wife

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DarloRich

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Sadly this type of thread brings out the usual folk who have no ability to investigate the issue beyond what the papers have printed. I cant be bothered to argue but there was an interesting post about this issue on the secret barrister blog that I would commend to the house:

Was the cricketer who forced his wife to drink bleach spared prison because his wife was “too intelligent”?

https://thesecretbarrister.com/

Our legal system is a mess; we are too soft on perpetrators of violent crime (and too hard on certain other types of crime) in my opinion.

There's a couple of people I regularly clash with on this forum who defend lenient sentences for violent crimes, but I'll pre-empt their inevitable replies by saying I will agree to disagree with them!

I will happily agree this is a very odd sentence. Very odd indeed! The charge is also an odd one. I don't see why, on the reported facts, it was not a higher level offence.

I will also point out that a suspended sentence is NOT getting away it. Any further offending will result in a swift journey to clink. I agree, however, that such a sentence doesn't look appropriate in this case and on the reported facts.
 
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Tetchytyke

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Sadly this type of thread brings out the usual folk who have no ability to investigate the issue beyond what the papers have printed.

Back when I was clerking for a defence solicitor, spending a lot of time helping counsel on the benches, it was often the case that the local newspaper reports bore little or no resemblance to what was actually said in court. And that was back when the local rag actually sent court reporters down to the Crown Court. Now the local rags just get most of their news off Facebook and Twitter.

I think people who have no faith in the justice system are, generally, people who have never been inside a court room. It's an enlightening experience.

Even for ABH I think he got away lightly. But most of these "lenient sentences" are, when you actually find out the rationale, anything but.
 

DarloRich

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Back when I was clerking for a defence solicitor, spending a lot of time helping counsel on the benches, it was often the case that the local newspaper reports bore little or no resemblance to what was actually said in court. And that was back when the local rag actually sent court reporters down to the Crown Court. Now the local rags just get most of their news off Facebook and Twitter.

I think people who have no faith in the justice system are, generally, people who have never been inside a court room. It's an enlightening experience.

Even for ABH I think he got away lightly. But most of these "lenient sentences" are, when you actually find out the rationale, anything but.

I agree with you, especially on the reporting and lack of knowledge of the system shown by the majority. Go along and sit in the public gallery and see what happens. Do your jury service and take part.

(mind you if they went they might find out how boring much of the proceedings are LOL - perhaps it should invovle the whole waiting in the court precincts for the tannoy announcements..... will the parties in R v Smith please report to court 7 or Would Mr Smith of counsel please attend on court 5 as a matter of urgency. Oh for the glamorous hours spent waiting at court ;))
 
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DynamicSpirit

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Does anybody know if he has become a naturalised British citizen? As a Pakistani, and a convicted criminal, surely he is 'eligible' for deportation? The US and Canada would do exactly that - so there's no reason why we shouldn't. It's cheaper than imprisoning him would be when he commits his next crime.

Deporting may be cheaper than imprisoning, but it doesn't actually solve the problem of the person's behaviour. It merely exports the problem. Presumably, if the guy was deported to somewhere like Pakistan where rights for women are poorer than in the UK, that would leave him actually more free to do exactly the same thing to some other poor woman in the future. I'm not sure that's what a responsible Government should be doing.
 

AlterEgo

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Deporting may be cheaper than imprisoning, but it doesn't actually solve the problem of the person's behaviour. It merely exports the problem. Presumably, if the guy was deported to somewhere like Pakistan where rights for women are poorer than in the UK, that would leave him actually more free to do exactly the same thing to some other poor woman in the future. I'm not sure that's what a responsible Government should be doing.

The UK Government has a responsibility to citizens of the UK first and foremost. If he was eligible to be deported then frankly he should be, and our worries about what a bad man he might be in Pakistan to Pakistani people should be secondary.

Are you suggesting that a responsible government should keep violent criminals in the country at their own expense, when it may be cheaper, easier, and safer for UK citizens to deport them back home?

(I noted upthread that I don't think the criminal here is actually eligible for deportation so the discussion is academic.)
 

DynamicSpirit

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The UK Government has a responsibility to citizens of the UK first and foremost. If he was eligible to be deported then frankly he should be, and our worries about what a bad man he might be in Pakistan to Pakistani people should be secondary.

Are you suggesting that a responsible government should keep violent criminals in the country at their own expense, when it may be cheaper, easier, and safer for UK citizens to deport them back home?

(I noted upthread that I don't think the criminal here is actually eligible for deportation so the discussion is academic.)

Agreed it's academic (and getting a little off-topic) but for the sake of replying :)

Yes, the UK Government's first responsibility is to UK citizens, but I trust you're not arguing that means it should completely ignore the welfare of people in other countries. Clearly there is a balance to be struck somewhere.

As far as deporting someone in that kind of situation is concerned: It's a tricky issue. I'm undecided on it, but I think there are serious ethical and practical issues:

Firstly, if you jail a foreigner and then deport them, then that means that the foreigner is being punished initially in exactly the same way that a UK citizen in the same situation would be punished. But then at the end of the sentence, the foreigner is given an additional punishment (deportation) purely because he is foreign. Is that ethical to punish foreigners more than UK citizens for the same crime? Consider too that that person may have family in the UK who are innocent of any crime, but who may also suffer gravely if that person is deported (although clearly, that's unlikely to be the case in the particular case we're discussing in this thread).

On a practical level: Suppose every country does the same thing and deports foreign criminals. So - for example, we deport lots of criminals back to their home countries, and in return we receive lots of British criminals who have been deported back here, some of whom will presumably then commit crimes in the UK. On balance, has anyone actually benefitted from all the expense of all those deportations? Overall, the chances are you'll still have the same number of crimes being committed by repeat offenders, it'll just be different people in each country.

I can see situations where deportation would seem to be probably correct. Two examples would be, people who don't have residency and commit crimes while on short term visits, and people who came to the UK partly for the purpose of committing crime here. But for someone who has residency here, and who, some years after gaining residency, commits some crime that's not connected with their decision to come to the UK - that's a lot harder. Maybe in some cases, it's appropriate, but I do worry that calls to simply expel foreigners sometimes owe more either to xenophobia, or to a feeling that 'it doesn't matter if it's someone else's problem' than to a proper consideration of the ethics and the practicalities.

(And in case it's not obvious: No part of what I've just written amounts to any kind of defence of the individual whose physical abuse of his wife we are discussing. If the facts are as reported, then I'm inclined to completely agree that he should have been given a fairly severe prison sentence)
 
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Merseysider

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As one would expect, somebody has started a petition on change.org:

Take domestic violence seriously in courts said:
The Judge handed out a suspended sentence of 18 months - a punishment which is not enforced unless a further crime is committed during a specified period. What message does this send out to perpetrators of domestic abuse?

...

I am calling on the Alison Saunders to agree to meet me, and show that the CPS understands that work needs to be done so that Judge Mansell’s actions are never repeated.

This petition will be delivered to:
Crown Prosecution Service
Director of Public Prosecution
(Alison Saunders)

How effective this will be, I cannot say.

There are currently 85,000 signatories.
 
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cf111

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Does the facility exist in England and Wales for the CPS to appeal against a sentence which they feel is "unduly lenient"? In Scotland Her Majesty's Advocate, as head of the Crown Office, can appeal to the High Court of Judiciary to that effect and that Court can increase a sentence if they find in his favour. Indeed if an offender who has been sentenced to (for example) 2 years in prison appeals against his sentence to the High Court as he feels it is harsh it could, and indeed has plenty of times, increase the sentence!
 
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AlterEgo

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Does the facility exist in England and Wales for the CPS to appeal against a sentence which they feel is "unduly lenient"? In Scotland Her Majesty's Advocate, as head of the Crown Office, can appeal to the High Court of Judiciary to that effect and that Court can increase a sentence if they find in his favour. Indeed if an offender who has been sentenced to (for example) 2 years in prison appeals against his sentence to the High Court as he feels it is harsh it could, and indeed has plenty of times, increase the sentence!

This has been explained upthread.
 

Tooktook

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Article reads:

'A man who admitted attacking his wife with a cricket bat and forcing her to drink bleach has been jailed after a judge said the court was "misled" over a cricket contract.

Mustafa Bashir, 34, was spared a custodial term in March as a judge heard he would lose out on a cricket contract with Leicestershire.

Judge Richard Mansell QC, reviewing the sentence at Manchester Crown Court, said he was "fundamentally misled". He sentenced Bashir to 18 months.

Bashir, who has played cricket for Oldham and Bolton, denied telling his barrister at the last hearing that he was about to sign the contract with Leicestershire.

The 34-year-old claimed he "wasn't listening", was "extremely emotional" and there were a "series of misunderstandings".

Judge Mansell rejected Bashir's claims, saying: "You were clearly making a claim to court you had professional cricket contract."
 

me123

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I'm still struggling to understand the situation wherein having a professional cricket contract provides immunity in domestic abuse cases. But I'm glad to see he's going to prison. Would like to see a sentence longer than 18 months, but at least it gives his victim plenty of time to get as far away from this "man" as possible.
 

Darandio

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The thing is, even during the trial Leicestershire CCC had stated they hadn't even heard of him, never mind offered a contract.

Seems like the judge has merely realised their mistake and rightly bowed to pressure.
 

ExRes

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Some form of justice after all then, although I still believe 18 months is too lenient a sentence for his crimes

I hope, without much belief, that he will be back facing a separate charge for lying to the court
 

Tooktook

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I do find sentencing in the U.K. a bit misleading. He will likely only serve half the sentence and then be released on licence. It just doesn't seem long enough.
 

Merseysider

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Some form of justice after all then, although I still believe 18 months is too lenient a sentence for his crimes

I hope, without much belief, that he will be back facing a separate charge for lying to the court
Agree on all counts.
BBC said:
Leicestershire CCC accused Bashir of "inventing" the job offer "in order, it would seem, to evade a prison sentence".
...
[Judge Mansell] had asked Bashir to provide evidence but said the defendant had produced only a "handful of emails" to support his claims.
...
The sports agent, who the new defence team said had "mistyped" the letter to court, has since been spoken to by police, the court heard.
...
"There's not a shred of evidence you were ever chosen to play for Leicestershire County Cricket Club, let alone you had received any offer of a full time contract."
A truly nasty piece of work. I hope he gets what's coming to him.
 

Tetchytyke

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Some form of justice after all then, although I still believe 18 months is too lenient a sentence for his crimes

We've already been through a lot of this.

Mr Bashir admitted to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The maximum sentence for this is five years, and Mr Bashir is entitled to a discount of up to 33% for his timely guilty plea.

The starting point for sentencing in a category one- the most serious- category of ABH is 18 months, before any discounts are applied.

Mr Bashir received a sentence of 18 months after a discount was applied, which means that the judge issued a sentence above the starting point, reflecting the severity of the incident. This sentence was originally suspended as Mr Bashir claimed he had a professional cricket contract, and rehabilitation is an important consideration. When it became apparent he had misled the court, the judge recalled the sentence and turned it back into an immediate custodial sentence.

I think the decision by the CPS to accept a guilty plea on the basis of ABH was surprising, although no doubt the CPS were aware of not wanting to put the victim through the trauma of trial. But 18 months for a serious case of ABH is about right according to the guidelines.

You can read the guidelines here: http://www.sentencingcouncil.org.uk...ssault_definitive_guideline_-_Crown_Court.pdf
 

ExRes

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We've already been through a lot of this.

Mr Bashir admitted to assault occasioning actual bodily harm. The maximum sentence for this is five years, and Mr Bashir is entitled to a discount of up to 33% for his timely guilty plea.

We have indeed, but I believe we are still entitled to our own opinions, are we not?

Although the BBC has been guilty of the odd error in their reporting, todays states that Bashir was charged with, and pleaded guilty to, assault occasioning actual bodily harm, assault by beating, destroying or damaging property and using a destructive substance with intent to maim, so if the OABH sentence is five years then what about the other three offences? perhaps using a destructive substance with intent to maim is not worthy of separate consideration

The 'man' is a bully and deserves a sentence equivalent to his actions, I believe the sentence does not go far enough and I also believe he will get away with his deliberate lies to the court without punishment, that is not justice by any meaning of the word
 

Tetchytyke

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The sentences will be concurrent, I suspect. I don't know as the papers don't report all the sentencing remarks.

I think agreeing a charge of ABH was very generous on behalf of the CPS. I guess this happened on the morning of trial, known as "cracking a trial", and normally involves a compromise on both sides. But I am surprised the CPS barrister and caseworkers agreed to the ABH guilty plea.

He has been punished for his crime, and the sentence is appropriate for the crime. The issue is that he perhaps should have been prosecuted for a different crime. I am surprised they didn't push for GBH, although we don't know what injuries the woman actually sustained, we only know he used bleach and a cricket bat, and charging is partly based on injuries sustained.
 
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