Knife-wielding head-stamping muggers named and jailed
Tuesday 18th January 2011, 2:30PM GMT.
PC Matt Le Page patrols the Old Quarter yesterday. (Picture by Steve Sarre, 1078530)
YACHTSMAN Brynley Pegler has a permanent reminder of last summer’s trip to Guernsey – a scar on his left arm.
For on his small-hours stroll around Town to clear his head after a night out, he found himself in Back Street.
And that was where teenage muggers Jamie Le Maitre and Ben Bryant pounced on the victim they had been stalking since he had asked them for directions. Le Maitre stabbed Mr Pegler, 39, in the arm and Bryant stamped on his head.
Bryant and Le Maitre yesterday admitted the robbery and a string of other offences when they appeared in the Royal Court, which lifted restrictions on naming the juveniles.
Le Maitre was sentenced to five-and-a-half years in youth detention and Bryant to six.
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Absolutely right decision to lift the naming restrictions.
If you’re old enough to commit the crime, you’re old enough to be named.
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Sorry didnt read the press…how old were they?
At any age i’m glad justice has seen sence.
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Russell Finch for Chief Minister
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Tell you something though… normally I am fairly right wing about this, and get fed up with liberal, wishy washy nonsense we see so much of.
But in the report you read that the 16 year old had a troubled childhood. Yeah, yeah, boo hoo. It then goes on to say that he was abusing prescription drugs at the age of 12.
12!!!!!
The poor boy never had a chance did he?! Where the RUDE WORD (I don’t often want to use them) were the parents?!?!? What an absolute disgrace that a young boy was allowed to follow this path – one that has led inexorably to this case.
The parents should be ashamed, and actually, so should Social Services and to a degree, should all of us.
I note later in the same paper, there is an article about a 22 year old man with an “appalling criminal record” being sent down again.
He has a 5 month old baby and another on the way.
It pains me to say this, but as it stands I don’t hold out much hope for these children…
Sad.
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16 and 17, both 17 now I believe, don’t quote me on that though.
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Ray for Deputy Chief Minister! ;-)
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BTF – you’re absolutely right it is a tragedy and now that justice has been served let us hope they can both get the help they undoubtedly need.
I’ve no wish to jump on the “lock ‘em up and throw away the key” bandwagon but I still maintain my view that the court was right to allow identification. I’m sure we all know many people who have had difficult upbringings and yet don’t deliberately stab and stamp on the head of total strangers.
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When are parents going to held accountable for the upbringing and care of their offspring?
Not just in this case, but in many other cases it is the pareneting which failed very early on. I am not saying they should be punished – I think the parenting problem areas need to be identified and helped. It might help bring some youth back to a more positive future.
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We have gone too far down the road of help the criminal. Stick to the old ways Birch Cat of 9 Tails and let prison mean prison. Bread and water perhaps they wouldnt be so quick to get back to the mommy cuddling they get today.
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i say bring back the birch
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Let me tell you about the parents, the father wasn’t local, so when they divorced our States decided that we no longer wanted him here, the boy has had his father sent away from when he was a young age, I don’t know much about them but this is the problem with our housing laws, yes it protects our Island but we leave ourselves open to critisism in cases like this.
We need to decide whether we have value families and if we do cut our clothe accordingly, nobody knows how this boy would have turned out but maybe he would have stood more of a chance with his father about!
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You got it right, Pete. The birch works very well in Singapore: You can leave your car unlocked and it won’t be stolen or vandalised, You can leave your purse in your shopping trolley in one shopping aisle and walk away to check another aisle and come back and your purse will still be there. You can go out at night without having to constantly look over your shoulder to watch out for muggers…..in fact it is like Guernsey used to be before legal eagles and human rights nutters fixed everything so they could safely invest in the proliferation of crime!
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enough about the parents, everybody is given a chane in life, iv never had my parents, led a pretty tough life which included physical abuse whilst in the care system but iv never stamped on anybody, or anything of any serious nature, i understand why some people blame it on the parents but the parents were not there these boys decided all by them self what they did, so they deserve to be punished all by them self and they deserve to suffer all by them self, in the mean time the parents should be allowed to live and look after any other kids they may have without having to think people are judgeing them as they walk down the street.
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Right, what they did was wrong, i agree, but their only teenage boys, and they all make mistakes. Their doing their time now, and will atleast have time to think about their actions. But think about it, there’s teenagers out there who have done so much worst so come on eh!!
Give them a break already!
Them and their families are going through enough right now, and they don’t need to be hearing that their children area a disgrace and that they should be ashamed.
You should be happy they didn’t do anything worst!!
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John – I believe the housing laws have a section called compassionate license, wherby, if you are not local, but have a local child, you can apply to remain in the island, on these compassionat grounds. The stipulation is, you must have regular contact with your child.
If he was “forced to leave” as you have suggested, I would hazard a guess that this was because he was not interested in having contact, or the childs mother successfully got the courts to agree that he should not have contact.
Either way, i dont think you can blame the housing laws for this one.
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ssss – you are right, they could’ve done something worse. But the point is, a child of any age can tell you that attacking someone in such a way isn’t right.
These aren’t ‘mistakes’ that should have to be made to learn that they are wrong.
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ssss – they stabbed someone and stamped on their head!! This is not stealing sweets from the corner shop, this is a very serious thing! How much worse could it have been really?
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Golden Brown
I can tell you that this was not the case, and I know this case is not in isolation, I know of a Guernsey man who once he had divorced his wife she had to leave and took the 2 children with them, this was a few years ago but I would be interested to know if this is still the case
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I do not wish to bring these boys’ parents into question as that is another issue. However, I understand that in the UK (not sure about Guernsey) that the age of criminal responsibility is 10 years old. Accordingly, a child not yet out of junior school can be held accountable for a criminal act. Therefore, I can only assume that the age where parental responsibility IN LAW ceases to exist is when the child is 10 years old. God help the children when parents know they don’t have to teach them right or wrong after the age of 10…..
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ssss
Are you a frined of theirs or the family?
You just stopped short of blameing the victim and patting these thugs on the back for making a “mistake” what planet are you on.
You say, “You should be happy they didn’t do anything worst”!!
I dont know about the other posters on here but i`m jumping for joy along with the victim that they didnt do anything worse.
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ssss – this is Guernsey, not the Bronx!
I’m with Sam here. Stamping on someone’s head could’ve ended in a serious brain injury or worse. A slightly different angle on the stab action and we could’ve been looking at attempted murder or even murder.
As BTF said before, the lads have obviously had a difficult childhood and need help, and let’s hope they get it – BUT that doesn’t mean we should start making light of what was an extremely serious assault.
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Absolutly no excuse for it.
They came from a broken home….they probably broke it.
And what were THEY doing out in the early hours anyway????
About time some proper punishment was dished out. Punishment well deserved lets see more because motorists get punished more for a lot lesser crimes.
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Have social services been asked to investigate parenting because monsters are generally created ?
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Welcome to guernsey 2011
May the exodus continue to pastures new
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John I know one of the boys and his father is local but he left the boy’s mum when he was young. He got remarried and the new wife didn’t want him to be in contact with his ex wife which meant he wasn’t in contact with his son or involved in his upbringing. I happen to think he was stupid to listen to her.
His mum had different men coming in and out of his life which was not his fault. I am not saying that any of this is a reason for what he did which is totally inexcusable. I just merely wanted to state that one of the boys has got a local father.
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I think guernsey prison is to cushy and this is why these thugs keep offending , they should be sent to the mainland for some proper punishment and might not be so quick to offend again. Also theres so many smack heads in such a small island its getting like a mini london .
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Completely agree chris, they should be out cleaning up the toilets picking up dog s*** etc. they say all this stuff like “prison inmates get English GCSE” no company would employ somebody who’s been to prison anyway.
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what the boys have done is wrong but at the end of the day they are paying for what they have done cant you give these boys a break i believe the family is going through enough as you do know the guernsey press exaggerate to make it sound worse then what it is!!! i can only speak for myself as i didn’t have my farther around but as a single mum she did the best she could you cant blame the parents!!!
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I was brought up with my mother only, and it would not ever cross my mind to hurt another person in such a manner, these little thugs are just sick in the head.Stick them in the army and see how big and clever they are then, the guernsey prison is a holiday camp.We need the army here to sort this island out, because the police cant.
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Mr G – what total crap. No doubt it’s harder for ex-cons to get jobs but if what you’re saying is true then nobody who’s been to prison would ever have a job! Even a complete imbecile knows that’s not the case.
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This was not exaggerated by the guernsey press a very good friend of mine witnessed it, they are sick in the head.Guernsey prison is a joke.
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What the boys have done is wrong and yer i can understand that but however you can not blame the family for what they have done you can’t watch your children 24/7 i bet half of the parents on here don’t know what their children get up too on a daily basis i think its about time you give the family a break as they must be going through hell but if you look at guernsey what has it got to offer for young youths (nothing) maybe if their was more things to do on this rock you wouldn’t get young teens taking drugs and doing serious crimes “agree”
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well Chris i think you need to go away and speak to your very good friend as there was NO witnesses in the area and if so why didn’t he come forward
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I sometimes shake my head in disbelief at how some forum members have the “answers” to the behaviours that young people portray. Please send these answers to all the people that work in social services and mention the bit about “sorting the parents” out as I doubt they would have tried that…..
Yes these 2 boys have committed a very serious offence and justice has been served. End
What we should be concerned about now is the help/support that is offered so when they are released that they do not fall back into old habits.
Answers on a postcard….
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Has anyone thought about what the victims family are going through, what if it was your own family attacked would you be defending them then.Or are you the family.
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Well dave5189 goes to show how wrong you are once again .
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Dave (aka chris – same Gravatar)
As well as talking to your mate for dave5189 you might also want to have a think about this comment: “We need the army here to sort this island out, because the police cant.”
I’m interested to know what more you expected the police to do about this incident? They caught the culprits didn’t they? You can’t expect the police to be everywhere, or would you rather we lived in the former East Germany with a Stasi informant on every street corner?!
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dave5189 i do not recall saying my friend was a he.
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chris
send them to the mainland for what proper punishment? do you not watch the news? crime is rife over there so that isnt much of a deterrent eh.
dave5189
The old “there`s nothing to do in Guernsey” what utter bull, why are you even linking that to what these thugs did?.
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dave5189 – I implore you to stop your poorly written, ill-conceived posts as they are making an irrelevant argument, if any and butchering the English language all at once.
It is all too easy to go down the road of blaming the behavior of these “young youths” (as oppose to old youths?!?) on a lack of activities on the island. The fact of the matter is that they stalked and then attacked a man with a deadly weapon and excessive force. These actions could so easily have resulted in the death of the victim. This is not a weekend activity they have taken up because the skate park is below par, for example. I ask that you do not persevere with this over-used and nonsensical rationale for the decline in public safety and rise in crime in Guernsey.
Yes, the parents will probably not be enjoying the media attention surrounding the actions of their children, but unfortunately for them they need to front up and shoulder some blame for how their offspring have turned out. Much in the same way the mother and father of a modern-day saint or poet laureate may well beam with pride as they pat each other on the back.
Not a time for sympathy in my book, and glad a heavy sentence has been handed down. Fingers crossed this serves as a deterrent for others who may have similar hobbies at the weekend!
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Sir percy blakeney there seems to be a lot of know it alls like your self i am one person and dave is another it goes to show that great minds really do think alike well said dave. You all have a good day now good night.
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prison is a great chance to rehabilitate if we do as posters on here wish they would come out and re offend 100% certain
Maybe fwd thinking is beyond the average guernsey persons mindset ?
Guernsey still in the dark ages 2011
further examples with the drunks on streets,bang them upfor 14 days or a month then let them out,oh how clever this is,how many re offend ?
The future is for fwd thinkers,the backward guys shall remain in guernsey after the exodus is complete,still asking what time the papers come in.
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@ssss – well seen you were not the victim, what a lot of nonsense you wrote, you are a disgrace.
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chris – Good morning! Whatever you say, suggest you read your post as Dave on January 20, 2011 at 2:55 pm and then read:
http://www.thisisguernsey.com/2008/06/11/an-easy-way-to-have-your-say/
You’re either 2 guys with the same email address, or one guy with an alter ego. Either way, doesn’t matter too much – you “both” write nonsense. :)
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It doesn’t matter if i am a friend of theirs and their families or not.
Yeah, the victims families must be going through a hard time aswell, but come on .. the guys 30 or something years old, couldn’t be stick up to himself to two youngsters??
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quick comment to ssss you say the victim was 30 years old and should have stuck up for himself are you just stupid, or are you a similar person to the 2 a**holes that did this, for one thing one of them was armed with a knife and secondly there was two of them, and in my book anyone that tries to excuse this type of offence needs therapy
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ssss
Your last post is so pathetic i can only assume you secretly are having a good laugh at what these thugs did.
Your a complete plank.
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sir percy blakeney as a matter of fact there are five people who use this computer and the same email what is your problem get a grip.
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ssss
With your strange attitude to life I would not be surprised if you find yourself in trouble with the law by the time you reach the age of fourteen
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Right well i have read all these comments and here’s my take!
i am sophie le maitre the sister of the now 18 year old jamie le maitre one of the boys who was involved in this incident, yes he is being punished for his wrong doing. i don’t condone what he has done its completely wrong lets get a few things straight instead of blaming my family my mother did leave when we We’re young she did not have Alot of men in and out of her life she left my real father to marry my step father Whome she was married to for 15 years so i don’t know where that info came from but so untrue my brother and i lived with my mother because my father was an abusive drunk for Whome we still have nothing to do with my brother is sorry for his actions but he is turning his life around whilst imprisoned. however as it states in the press the guy was stabbed he wasn’t he had a small cut to his arm. my brother was homeless and is not a drug addict or alcoholic he has had many problems of which these are not.
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Firstly thank-you for all the comments.I agree totally but what makes a person lead to committing crime and breaking the law,its not so black and white and IM not sticking up for my sons disgusting behaviour but i will stick by him like ive done so since the day he was born.From a early age. we are tort wrong from right.People who offend think they will never get caught.(they will)
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Well then sophie he should be referred to the castel hospital when he comes out of prison .
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They are going to live with this hanging over them for the rest of their lives. They will never get a decent job, so I think they have had a hard enough time without you lot having a go at them. They haven’t been brought up right so maybe Prison will teach them right from wrong.
I for one think they should be given another chance as they are paying for their crimes.
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jimby how dare you say that my brother hasn’t been brought up right he knows full well what is right from wrong he choose to get in with the wrong crowd and he should know Bladdy better. don’t you think if we weren’t then both myself and my brother would both b in prison i choose to learn and do well through life to get to where i am today my brother choose the opposite path. but yes i totally agree with you he will change his life around he is doin well and will continue to do well with the support of his family
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Jamie’s Mum – I admire your post on here. You have a good perspective on this, in my opinion.
I am glad you have decided to stand by your son without excusing his behaviour. Many moons ago, I was arrested and my parents did a similar thing with me. My Dad even stood up in court to offer his support – and got a bit of an earful from the magistrate – I’ve never forgotten it, he had no reason to stick up for me at all.
Although thankfully for me my offence was lower on the legal scale and I only got fined, the principle is the same. There’s no doubt in my mind that their constant love and support helped ensure I never offended again. I hope your son follows the same path.
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Well said Paul le page, i also think Sophie is good in what she saying, irelivant of how well there mother bought them up, she did the best she knew as every mother does, clearly she is obviouly not a bad person or it would be her name in the papers not her sons, assuming most of you on hear are correct Sophie, because of the “way she was bought up” will be in the paper for murder next week and her mum should serve the punishment.
I dont know this family but big respect to them, most of you on hear should experiance life more and stop assuming crap to everything that happens, this was the doing of Jamie and Ben (his family i do know)and it is Jamie and Ben who should be and were punished not the family so give them a break.
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can i just say i know this family well, i seem to remember it was not the mum that got the phone call to say her son was in custody it was his aunt, the aunt was distraught with worry about the victim of the terrible crime , she had tried her best to find out if the gent was indeed stabbed and the consequence’s. As for both kids terning out in opposites i remember sophie she has a child single mum doing ok now, however i am just pleased the victim will all be ok not forgetting the chaps house he broke into! which i should imagine the terror will stay with them for the rest of there lives,
well we could debate about this till the cows come home however the terrible crimes have been committed lets hope they don’t have a holiday in there and lets hope this don’t ever happen to them or there family i would hate to think how they would react!!!
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Both boys have issues in their lives. I dont think anyone is to judge. Eveyone makes mistakes under difficult circumstances. They made a mistake and are doing their time. Im sure with that sentence it will teach them. Can’t belive though that they would give such a hard sentance to basically a kid, in the mainland it wouldnt be heard of.
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anonymous
‘in the mainland it wouldn’t be heard of ‘…Ever considered that may be one of the reasons why the mainland is viewed as the crime cesspool of Europe?
Daily Mail last week reported on one ‘mainlander’ who has just had his 576th conviction and he has yet to see the inside of a prison! That is one hell of a list of ‘mistakes’
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anonymous
Well their not in the mainland are they, and whats that got to do with anything?.
Was the string of other convictions all just a mistake aswell? as far as they will be concerned the only mistake was getting caught.
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Why would you think i’m laughing at what they did? – I’ve never laughed about it. When i first found out that they’d done that, i was shocked and couldn’t believe they’ve done it.
Ray —
by the time i’m fourteen? you don’t even know me, let alone my age!
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Well i am from the mainland originally, I just stating that i am suprised at such a harsh sentence. I diddn’t realise that Guernsey laws are different? To me people that have done much worse in the eyes of the law havent been sentenced this long in England. (Only saying my opinion, i know this is Guernsey.)
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anonymouse, yes the laws are themselves different (although criminal offences are basically the same) and the approach to prosection and sentencing is different due to the fact that the society is different.
Thankfully, we have a relatively low crime community and so events like this do tend to be tolerated less.
Long may that continue.
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anonymous
I don’t think the laws are all that different,it’s just that we have Magistrates and Judges who thankfully won’t tolerate the mess the UK have got themselves into as a result of the constant weakening of their sentencing guidelines for political expediency
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Sophie your Dad was not an abusive drunk to you and Jamie, that’s not the reason you lived with your Mum. I’m not going into why you lived with her, but don’t blame him.
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