Crime writer loses plot but could keep his job
Monday 31st January 2011, 2:30PM GMT.
Richard Domaille with his crime novel, Shadows of Malice, which was published in 2009. (Picture by Peter Frankland, 0891881)
A CRIME writer who subjected his landlord’s family to a frightening ordeal could keep his job as a civil servant after he was given a suspended prison sentence.
Martial arts enthusiast Richard Domaille, whose crime novel, Shadows of Malice, was published in 2009, found himself in court after he ‘flipped’ and assaulted his landlady. The 29-year-old then grabbed her two teenage children and tried to hold them against their will.
In the Magistrate’s Court, Domaille admitted assault, disorderly behaviour and two counts of criminal damage.
Imposing a four-month prison sentence, suspended for two years, and two years’ supervision, Judge Philip Robey said that had a significant injury been caused, the prison sentence would have been immediate.
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Can we just establish that this ‘crime writer’ had his book ‘published’ only in the very loosest sense of the word? ‘Ricky Domaille’ may be hoping to leech some credibility off the back of claiming to be a published author, maybe it even helped to swing for a lesser sentence in this case, but that’s about as far as it goes with regards to trying to paint himself as a ‘decent guy’, which, judging by the actions he found himself in court for, he isn’t.
One need only do a quick search on ‘PublishAmerica’ to see that there is little justification for this guy to be touting himself around as a published author.
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I love the headline GP.
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sorry but assulting your landlady and scaring/threating half to dealth two children not enough to send him straight to prison. Crazy he should have had the book thrown at him literly
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the last time a Martial arts enthusiast was on the front page of the press it was for killing his wee young child and his girlfriend , this bloke should have gone to jail and loose his job , it seams one rule for one and another for others guernsey courts are mental ,whats to say he wont do this again !!!
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I feel sorry for the victim to be assaulted then have to go through the process of prosecution etc for the judge to state “that had a significant injury been caused, the prison sentence would have been immediate”, did he really mean that it wasn’t serious and she wasn’t hurt enough? how much trauma does this judge feel is significant, being assaulted and then seeing her teenage kids being grabbed and held against their will. I wonder who will get over the ordeal first him serving his sentence in full employment and having to behave like any ordinary citizen or the victim and her children.
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Is this chap a Civ Serv in Guernsey or elsewhere?
If here, me as a member of the General Public want no dealings with someone who deals out violence!
Thought Civ Servs got the boot for criminal offences
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What an absolute ludicrous verdict, knowing the family in question you couldn’t meet a nicer family that have given tremendous amounts to the community, this chap should have been put in prison for a long time considering the mental anguish they suffered. Guernsey courts and the officials/ judges should get real and appreciate that the ordinary land lord should be safe in their own property. Get real and send him to prison. This is almost a case of the do gooder scenario winning against decent people. Anyone who knows this person and practices martial arts with him should be aware that they may be putting their own lives in danger, if he is a member of any of the local reputable martial arts clubs please discontinue his membership with immediate effect. As for his job, I am not be happy paying taxes to keep a violent man in employment especially as he may have access to the younger members of our community. Stuart
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I would imagine that he will now find it a bit more difficult to keep hold of his job after that (somewhat witty) headline! I want to get hold of “Shadows of Malice”. I’m making an assumption here; but I bet it’s not Dostoevsky…
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Anyone who wants to read his book can borrow it from Guille Alles Library, or buy it from Amazon…
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Chris-
It’s got 2 reviews on Amazon both give 5 stars, although if the book is as good as the cover then I doubt they’re telling the truth.
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In all my years involved in martial arts locally I have never come across him in any of the clubs I have trained with. As far as I am aware he is no regular practitioner, merely an ‘enthusiast’ as the story suggests.
All the clubs I have dealt with over here are responsible and registered with governing bodies and full of decent people who train to a high standard for the love of the sport and not to learn things so they can abuse and inflict suffering on innocent people. If I am wrong and he does train with a club over here I am sure they would ban him anyway as none of us want association with someone like him as it does the reputation of our sport no good at all.
It is a shame they even mentioned Martial Arts in the article as its loose association with him does cast a bit of a shadow over the sport and its participants just because some loser wants to big himself up.
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Slightly different anlge to look at here….the effect of alcohol? How many ‘decent’ people have been ‘mortified’ by their actions after consuming too much alcohol? I’m not defending the accused, excusing his behaviour, or dissmissing the anguish to his victims. I do not want to discuss the leniency of the court, or the fact as a tax payer we still pay a ‘violent’ individual’s salary.
What interests me is that we never stop and say ok, alcohol that is readily avaialble and cheap….can too much bring out the darker side in any decent or otherwise flawed individual?
We do with ‘drugs’ and the pyschotic effect….why not alcohol. The victims in the case sat down and drank a further bottle of red wine with an already drunk and possibly violent individual. Maybe his subconcious was on a one track road to violence before this…..what part did the alcohol play?
Why cant we all as a community address this and look at control of drugs including the cost/effect of alcohol in our community. Again, i am not defending this guys actions, but a bit of education/realisation of the effects of alcohol could have stopped that last bottle of wine being consumed.
Yes this event may still have happened, but i believe the chances would be a lot slimmer and the cost to our community, across the board, could significantly reduce if we actually looked at more stringnent alcohol control.
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He has made a mistake. Hopefully, he will learn alcohol is a trigger which he should do without if he wants a decent & prosperous future.
We have all done things we regretted whilst drunk. If this has given him the wake up call he needs, to steer clear of the booze, I don’t think his life needs to be turned upside down or kicked in the gutter because of it.
If the family he assaulted has come to terms with his actions & forgiven him? The public have little right to judge other than keeping a distance if they see him swaggering around town with an empty bottle of wine in his hand.
None of us are perfect. Those that have never had problems don’t know what is around the next corner.
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Steve
I agree, If Mr Domaille has been stoned, I guarantee this story would have a completely different slant and he would now be in prison, but no its only alcohol, nothing to see here.
Although ironically, if he was stoned, he’d probably not have done it!
The word “on the street” (oh how I love that phrase) is that he runs his own martial arts club, but it not part of an “association” of any sorts and could only loosely be described as a club.
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SM is right.
I very much doubt Ricky has had much to do with the local seen. Martial arts teaches self control, clearly he has none, so although i understand some slip the net i doubt he has practised anywhere away from a book in his bedroom.
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As noted above a claim to be a published author when Publish America is involved can’t be taken a face value.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/articles/A25187-2005Jan20.html?sub=AR
other titles coming soon from Publish America:
The Tao of Ivan Rihoy
The Toilers of the Sea II : Now we’ve got an outboard
The Tweets of Ebenezer Le Page – Capturing a byegone age in 140 characters or less
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Steve,
As someone who was there and knows exactly what happened that evening, some inaccuracies in reporting what was a very convoluted evening give the reader the impression that after the assault, he was let back in and we sat down to consume even more alcohol.
In fact we did not.
Alcohol had been shared socially earlier in the evening, at which point we were unaware of the amount that had been consumed prior to him coming into our home, but once he became violent there was no sitting down calmly and drinking – it was far too terrifying for that I assure you.
I think it’s important as a general point to remember that as adults we are each individually responsible and accountable for our actions, and as such we should know how we react and behave in any given situation, including how we react under the influence of alcohol.
Given the information we had at the time, and even now, after much heart searching and self questioning – of which there has been lots following the event, there was no way we would have predicted that evening would have turned out the way it did.
I agree with you that perhaps the potentially ‘psychotic’ effects, of alcohol are not so freely talked about or discussed, although I know there are inroads being made in education within schools, and even from a young age. I think that’s a good thing.
What would I personally wish? Apart from wishing it never happened in the first place? That this was the trigger to change his behaviour so that noone ever has to experience what me and my family had to that night.
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How on earth can he keep his job as a civil servant, he is not civil, and yes ‘bloggs’ – martial arts is all about self-control.
Lots of people have published books, doesn’t mean they are sane, respected or intelligent. Having been assaulted myself it takes an awful long time to come to terms with. I hope that the fact he has been prosecuted, the family have time to recover and get their lives back on track, which can take a lot of time to heal and I wish them all the best.
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Lenny McClean Mark II…….It’s difficult for one to stomach their evening meal when confronted with the inevitability of budget wastage when ‘civil’ servants of this calibre remain in employment regardless of the sector they are in, when they have acted in such an unprofessional manner. Thought there would be a provision in contracts for acting appropriately outside of core working hours and not ‘acting up’. Absolutely no negativity toward any other civil servants btw :) Also, it raises an ironic smile that anyone can attempt to fight his corner, as from ones personal experience, this is not isolated case. Perhaps some time with ‘The Arts’ rather than the martial arts would have a subduing effect. Someone should ‘publish’ a sequel to this catcher in the rye-esque masterpiece albeit with a happier ending than the above article.
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I also thought a criminal record was not compatible with a position in the civil service, but I’m willing to be set straight on that count if someone knows differently.
It was the slant of “published novelist” that had me laughing, though. Let’s spin the story and make this guy sound like a respectable professional, shall we? I fell off my perch when I read that it was through PublishAmerica. Anyone looking to get published who does five minutes serious research will have heard of them.
Read about this outfit here if you’re interested, but in short they are described as a “vanity press”. i.e. You pay them to publish your work, not the (more usual) other way around. My kids’ pet guinea pig could do a tap dance on my keyboard and PublishAmerica would probably accept the result for publication.
In professional circles, this claim of “published author” counts for nothing.
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Ian
In regard to employment in the Civil Service I would presume – and hope – that it depends on the severity of the offence and the role in question. For example a speeding fine gives you a criminal record and it would be a little harsh to be denied a desk job at Frossard House on that account.
Then there is the Rehabilitation of Offenders law that nullifies some criminal convictions after a period of time – the length of time being dependent on the severity of the offence.
Perhaps someone from the Civil Service could clarify the point?
Although there will obviously be cases where it is inappropriate to employ ex-offenders, my personal view is that unless there is good reason, ex-offenders should not be denied employment solely based on their history. One of the ways to help prevent re-offending is to offer rehabilitation and an alternative to crime – and honest work is a pretty good one.
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Don’t lose sight of the fact that this was not a first offence. This man already had a previous conviction for domestic assault and he now goes on to assault a woman and her two children (a thirteen year old girl and a fourteen year old boy). How many serious convictions can you have and still keep your civil service job? How many times do you have to be convicted of assault before getting a custodial sentence? The Guernsey Press has done the Island a favour by putting his photograph on the front page – any future potential landlord or employer can now recognise him and be aware of his pattern of behaviour.
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PublishAmerica is not a vanity press. It is an on demand publisher. The authors get paid just like any other publisher, but the books are not printed and then stored in a warehouse until sold. they are printed when ordered. there is alot more to it, but thats enough for now.
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You are correct Maeta, PublishAmerica is not a ‘vanity press’, it is ‘print on demand’ publisher that typically pays an author $1 to buy the rights to the book and then performs the most perfunctory spell-check and grammar edit, before adding it to their vast list of available titles for sale.
However, as bookshops will not buy anything from PublishAmerica, because of it’s particularly high unit prices, generally poor standard of content and inability to return unsold copies, the only way for a potential reader to actually purchase a title is to ask their bookshop to order it for them, at which time PublishAmerica will print the, specifically ordered, single copy.
It is a process whereby an aspiring author can state that they have been published, but their works are not actually stocked by anybody. They would be better off writing an E-Book and shilling it through Amazon themselves.
Although, personally, I would sooner read the, aforementioned, ‘Tao of Ivan Rihoy’ than any garbage produced by ‘Ricky’ Domaille.
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OK, the term “vanity press” was from the highly-respected industry watchdog Preditors & Editors (the exact wording was “A vanity press with a poor contract. Numerous writer complaints. Author mill and plagiarist. Strongly not recommended. Rated F by the BBB.)
Regardless, they are not viewed as a worthwhile publisher as Bill Yeager confirms. They have been embroiled in many complaints and lawsuits, and any writer who values his or her reputation would be best to steer well clear of them. As Bill also says, you’d be better going electronic through Amazon, and this route is working out very well for some folks.
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