Oral Pleading for mitigations
Your Honour,
As you are well aware, the matter relates to Mirchi Kumari who plead guilty to the offence of harassment contrary to Section 2 of the Protection from Harassment Act 1997. The same was filed before the court.
Your Honour, the charge sheet does a great disservice to the accused’s case. It does not fully explain the truth in this case. Ms. Kumari was convicted on her own plea of guilt. The custodial sentence here is a month sentence. We seek that this court reduce the sentence and grant a non-custodial sentence. The basis of our mitigation shall be based on the statements from the witnesses and a perusal of the pre-sentence report.
Based on the statement dated 18 September 2020, Ms. Kumari who resides in 96 Heartbroken Close, Exeter, was 42 years of age. The victim of the harassment was in this case the ex-husband of the accused. The accused has lived in the United Kingdom for 20 years now. This was after her marriage to the victim Aam Lal. Their marriage lasted till 2008 when the two divorced. The reason for this divorce was the alleged adultery by the husband and neglect towards his duties as a husband and a father. This pushed the defendant to depression and alcoholism. She was under a great deal of stress as a result of the pressure from her parents and the situation. She was blamed for the failing marriage yet she was not to blame. This cannot be easy for any person in a similar circumstance.
The divorce was a trying time for the accused. She felt greatly disadvantaged and aggravated. She had to give up custody of her daughter leading to her depression growing worse. She also got more dependent on alcohol as a way to cope with this saddening situation. To add salt to the wound, she was unable to get work and has since been living on a meagre jobseeker’s allowance. The divorce has forced the accused more pain as she has to see her daughter less and less each day. Sometimes she does not see her at all and gets excuses from her ex-husband. This made her even more depressed. As she kept trying to see her daughter, her ex-husband called the police and sought to bar her from causing any further disturbance. Much to her anguish.
Their situation grew more difficult and distressed. As a result of this, she resorted to staying with her friend a neighbor. The neighbor noted that she was depressed. As a result, she provided the visibly distraught Ms. Kumari a place to stay. She has previously had police called and been told to stay away from ex-husband’s house. To make matters worse, the accused was mugged in the first week of September leaving her in a poor financial state. She had no alimony money from her husband, no access to her daughter and more depression and stress. This led to an altercation at the victim’s home which led to her shouting and throwing a stone towards the victim. She was arrested and charged.
Your Honour, based on the offence and the circumstances around the case here, my client entered a guilty plea at an early occasion. She was very cooperative to the police officers during the time of arrest and at the taking of her statement. During this she did give a clear account of the events and made full admissions. When looking at the evidence presented before this court, it is evident that there was a strained relationship between the victim and the accused. There was existing friction leading to their divorce and the does aid the assertion that the accused did have a reason to harass and assault.
When one looks at the situation in the present case, there was indeed a strained relationship after the divorce which is understandable. The mother had her daughter taken from her and disowned by her husband. She was without any source of income based on her inability to properly speak English. She has been struggling to survive on the little jobseeker’s allowance and the lumpsum payment of £10,000 was inadequate to cover all her expenses. She was also hurt. Hurt not only with the lack of care and affection from her husband but also the fact that she cannot see her daughter again. She blames this on the divorce and her husband.
You Honour, based on the facts, one will find it had not to sympathize with her situation. It is also difficult not to side with the accused in this matter. It is clear that the depression, stress and alcoholism is a result of the victim’s clear neglect and infidelity. We do not seek to claim that the acts of the accused were the acts of a model citizen but what we argue is that based on the facts, her actions were seemingly justified. They were reactions of one who was hurt, distressed and depressed. She acted out of grief and anger. This is made evident when you peruse the statement of Ms. Kumari. She is in all respects a caring mother, a soft-spoken woman and only finds herself here because she acted as anyone would face with the same circumstances.
Your Honour, we make reference to Ms. Kumari’s statement and the statement from Rihanna Pent, it is clear that the accused had no previous conviction. She is in the most honest terms a first-time offender. The situation is unique as this is an isolated offence. The situation here only occurs once. She has had a clean record before this case was brought to court. The crime itself was neither premeditated nor was it a planned and calculated attack to harass. She merely wanted to see her daughter and lash out at her ex-husband for what she felt was wrong. Although she had been told to leave the victim alone, it was understandable that she had a difficult time letting go of her daughter. She wanted to talk things out with her ex-husband to get closure and discuss how best to deal with the divorce.
Moreover, your Honour, the accused has cooperated with the police officers. As evidenced by Constable Penty’s statement, she did not try to evade arrest. As a matter of fact, Ms. Kumari was found at the scene of the crime. She did not flee but surrendered and expressed her remorse. She did not put up a fight but freely confessed and made admissions to the offence. Your Honor, these were not the acts of a crook, these were the actions of an upstanding citizen. Someone who knew she was wrong but sought to make up for these wrongs. She did not escape or cause a scene; she was ready to atone and understood that she let her emotions get the best of her. This could happen to anyone of us and the fact that she was ready to apologize proves this fact.
Your Honour, in addition to the matters raised above, there is great potential for rehabilitation and reform. As earlier stated, the accused is very remorseful. She is sorry for acting in the manner she did. She was found outside the scene of the offense and expressed her remorse. She does not deny committing the offence. In fact, in her statement she expresses regret for shouting and causing distress. Based on the witness statement of Nyota Uhura, it is not in her nature to act in such a manner. This shows that the accused understood that she was wrong. She understood that she acted in a manner that was not proper. She has apologized for acting out on her emotions. She seeks to be forgiven and to be understood.
Furthermore, the accused seeks to make steps towards restitution. She is remorseful and makes an attempt towards repentance. All she seeks is to sort out the issue of custody and visitation. It is evident that she sought to engage the victim’s mother in discussion and advise. This was before the case was lodged. She is also seeking to engage her neighbor to help her in this tough time. We plead that this court does take note of the accused is still coming to terms with her difficult lifestyle. It is still a new situation and lifestyle. The defendant in this case is reasonably seeking to remedy the wrong she has done. The statement from Mr. Lal, he does understand the stress and anxiety. He takes a part of the blame and his statement adds to the assertion that the situation can be restituted. She understands her wrong doing and based on the fact that the accused was not a hardened criminal.
Your Honour, we also take note of the fact that there is a history of mental illness. The accused was under a lot of stress during and after her marriage with Aam Lal. As evidenced by her statement and that of her neighbor, after she had doubts as to her husband’s fidelity, the accused became depressed and resorted to alcohol. She continued down this path even after the marriage was terminated. She had in truth been upset by the situation. She was depressed as a result of having her child taken away from her. She had lost her income and could not get a job. She was in a disheartening state. She is a person with a pleasant demeanor, a kind and caring human being. Her current state was caused by the mental distress and depression. Based on her psychiatric state, it would be ill advised to give her the custodial sentence or detention. She clearly needs counseling as her offence is one spurred by emotional distress. She needs someone to talk to and a way to manage her grief.
In light of the above submissions, the state of affairs demand that a more lenient sentence is issued. We do not seek to argue that there was no offence or that she is not guilty as she has admitted this in her statement and plea do confirm this. We only seek a lighter sentence that properly addresses her situation and state. She is hurting and in pain. She did not act in a premeditated state but was blinded by her rage and grief. She has in this case not sought to hurt or harass the victim. She has just lashed out as a result of a relationship that went wrong. She still believes in the relationship she had with the ex-husband. She also wants to see her daughter. She believes she was hard done by the order for divorce.
I therefore respectfully invite you Honour to view that the definition of the offence and its sentence under the Act. The custodial sentence is an imprisonment of 6 months. Based on the nature of the offence, the court has a number of alternatives to the custodial sentence. This will be based on the circumstances. The matter before this court persuades this court to argue in favour of a non-custodial sentence. Your Honour, there was no premeditation or actual intent to cause harassment. There was no previous conviction or history of consistent criminal activity. This is a case of a grieving woman acting out of emotional distress. In this context we propose that the court agrees to grant a custodial sentence. A sentence that will seek to rehabilitate and counsel the accused. She is not someone likely to cause serious harm to Mr. Lal in future. The accused is in this case not at danger of committing a similar offence. She is remorseful and truly repentant. I invite this court to consider the circumstances of the case and the hardship the accused has suffered.
Your Honour evidently, there are many other non-custodial sentences available as alternatives. I urge you to consider these options as an early guilty plea was entered and the defendant was remorseful. Those are my respectful submissions, if there are no other matters in question I seek to rest the case for the defence.
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