A vulnerable man in his 20’s who should be receiving support through supervised probation has been jailed for 30 weeks.
The man, who admitted a string of offences, was sentenced by Deputy High Bailiff Rachael Braidwood, who said she had no other options available.
Having admitted two charges of burglary, one of damage to property, as well as charges of possession of cannabis, possession a bladed article in public and one of using threatening behaviour, the man was due to be sentenced several weeks ago.
However, when probation with supervision was the recommended sentence, the court was unable to impose this as he has nowhere to live and so he was remanded in prison.
Since then, the man’s advocate Paul Glover and probation officer Sarah Proudlove have worked to try and find anywhere he can stay that would give him the stability the man requires to properly engage with probation services.
No reply
This week, the court heard that Mrs Proudlove’s colleagues have made two attempts to contact Manx Care to try get a mental health assessment for the man, but received no reply on either occasion.
Deputy High Bailiff Ms Braidwood said the lack of response from Manx Care and other agencies was “surprising”.
Mrs Proudlove said probation had tried “everyone we a think of to find him accommodation” but they had not had any success.
Mr Glover told the Deputy High Bailiff his client wanted to be sentenced, which led Ms Braidwood to say she cannot sentence him to probation without having a stable place to live as doing so would be “setting him up to fail”.
She added: “It is a sorry state of affairs when the only available sentence is prison.”
Offences
The offences, which happened throughout the year, were described by prosecutor Barry Swain as largely incidents of the man “seeking help”, which included two incidents at Noble’s Hospital and the Police HQ.
Advocate Paul Glover said he was going to “avoid my soapbox” but, while thanking Mrs Proudlove and her colleagues for their efforts, said that his client had been “failed by the system”.
Mr Glover said the man’s actions were a “cry for help” and that have “gone unanswered due to problems within the system”.
Probation
Sentencing the man, Ms Braidwood noted that she believed it is “clear the offences are borne out of cries for help” and that a “lack of mental health care and accommodation has led you to where you are today”.
She added that prison was “not the most appropriate sentencing I can give you, but there is nothing I can do”.
In total the man was sentenced to 30 works.
After sentencing, Mrs Proudlove said the case “weighs heavy” on her and her colleagues and that they will keep trying to help the man when he leaves prison.
Ms Braidwood, who described the whole case was “very sad and unsatisfactory”, said she feared that without the man being found suitable and secure accommodation, he will only end up before the court again.
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