Old newspaper cutting

Canings handed down to male tourists caught drunk and disorderly last night

Saturday 10 September 1994

Reporting by Keira Hicks

Nine men learnt the tough way this morning that the Island’s Resident Magistrate does not care for drunken and disorderly behaviour.  They all appeared in court in a special sitting following drunken antics in the town last night.  In sentencing each of them to between 4 and 21 strokes of the cane, he sent a very strong message that the Island will not tolerate loutish behaviour from drunken tourists.  The sentences meted out to the men were as follows: Alex Berry, aged 25 (12 strokes), Oliver Pritchard, 26 (12 strokes), Aaron Boyle, 24 (12 strokes), Peter Welch, 18 (4 strokes),  Josh Burton, 23 (18 strokes),  Anthony Simmons, 24 (16 strokes), Henry Townsend, 28 (16 strokes),  Peter Goodwin, 27 (14 strokes) and his brother Michael Goodwin, 23 (21 strokes). Welch, 19 escaped relatively lightly, because he was not actually drunk but was caught with a bottle of beer in his hands while talking with Boyle and McCall.  The average sentence meted out though to the remaining men was 15 strokes, meaning that there will be a lot of very sore bottoms in the Island’s Prison over the next few days.  Those who swore or resisted arrest (and there were quite a few) will be suffering sorer bottoms than those who did not.

In addition to the caning sentences, each of them was ordered to undergo 4 weeks corrective training.  In a tough military style environment, they will be set tasks to complete each day involving physical exercise,  cutting of logs and assembly of goods for sale.  They will sleep in spartan dormitories, being required to be on parade at 6.00 each morning, with lights out and absolute silence by 8pm each night. Alcohol will also be off limits.

Although caning was reintroduced as a punishment for men who break the law in 1997, it is only in the last two years since the appointment of the new Resident Magistrate that it has been used regularly.  Canings are carried out with the offender completely naked and secured into a specially designed frame.  Members of the armed forces are used to inflict the punishments which are used with a much thicker whippier cane than the type used in schools on the island.  Men who have received it say that although it is extremely painful, with sitting down and walking being very difficult for the next day or so, it leaves no scarring or permanent injury.  Prison staff who have witnessed the canings say that the men are clearly very nervous on the day, even though they try to hide it.

The Resident Magistrate ordered that the pictures of each man be published at the Airport together with their sentences as a means of encouraging other men to realise that drunken behaviour will be met with a swift and painful response.

Each case took about 5 minutes to hear, meaning that for just over 45 minutes a group of very unhappy looking waited in the dock to hear their fate.   The judge ordered that all of the men stand in the dock together while he sentenced them one by one.  Before he dealt with the first case, she announced that that in each case he was going to impose a caning as part of the sentence.  With that, the 9 very unhappy looking men stood nervously as they waited to find out not whether they would be caned but how many strokes they would each receive. As their names were called, like naughty schoolboys, they shuffled to the front of the dock one by one, hoping that the Magistrate  would spare their backsides as much as possible.  Apart from Peter Welch, they would all be disappointed.  Judging by his tears, even he was not that happy.
 

It is not known when the canings will be inflicted. 

A number of visiting students were in the public gallery.  Lisa Parkinson, 23 said that when Coombes, the first to be sentenced, was awarded 12 strokes, the shockwave passing across the other mens’ faces was clear to see.  “After a while, it became quite fun to try to guess how many strokes each was going to receive as their offences were read out. At first we assumed it would be 12 strokes for all as that is what the first three got.  But then Welch only got 4 strokes and Acton got 14 and we realised that there was going to be a bit of variety! And then of course it was fun watching their expression as the effect of the sentence sunk in!”

As Jenny Ramsdale pointed out “After each one was sentenced he was immediately taken downstairs while the next one was brought into the dock.   It would have been fun to be a fly on the wall as they discussed their punishments, comparing who got what!” 

Lucy Broome had particular reason to be there.  Her white coat was ruined when Aaron Boyle spilt red wine on it in the Streamers' Nightclub.  Commenting on his 12 stroke caning, she said "I think it is good that so strong a message is sent out to these men.  They behaved like animals not caring what effect they had on others' enjoyment.  We had just gone out for a quiet night and they were a real nuisance.  Hopefully he will think twice before he goes out again."

According to one prison official, Welch was still very upset when he got downstairs.   “It was impressive to see the first three who had already been sentenced, trying to comfort him by saying that they’d all got the cane when they were at school and trying to convince him that it would probably not be as bad as he was fearing.  He was very upset about the prospect of his father being present to see the caning”

Not that there would have been much time for chatter.  As soon as they had been sentenced, they automatically become prisoners with the result that they would have to change into the official uniform of grey jogging bottoms and sweat shirts after a quick shower down in regulation disinfectant.

Additional reporting by Melissa Green:

Although some of those sentenced today will possibly have received the cane when they were at school, a very different experience awaits them next week.

Canings are carried out in a yard in the prison complex. A photograph taken a few months ago shows a man secured into the caning frame just before his punishment started.  He is completely naked and secured in place by both his ankles and wrists.

They are usually administered on Tuesday afternoons, with as many as 20 men being caned in one session.

When it was first introduced as a punishment, it was restricted to crimes of violence.  It is now available however for any offence which carries a possible term of imprisonment. 

Bring back the cane (?)

As British man not that far from 40, I am among the last generation of those who got the cane at school. True, it was dying out before I left school in 1987, but it was still in use with some vigour in the 1970s. It actually continued until 1999 in independent schools, so assuming he was 16 when he got it, an ex public schoolboy as young as 26 could have been on the receiving end of it. In fact, if he was unlucky enough to have got it at the same age I was when I first received it (8), he would only be just be leaving school now! That is pretty unlikely though: it really was the exception rather than the rule by that stage.

But in the 1970s and early 1980s it was still very much the norm. I'd heard from my older cousin about the cane. He'd got it a few times at his school.  I also remember one afternoon when I bombarded the older boy who lived next door to us with questions about it.  With hindsight, he was very keen to tell me all about it!  I was reasonably well behaved. I realised though that there was a chance that I might be one of those unfortunate enough to have his name called out in assembly to take the long walk up to the headmaster's study where the cane would be waiting on his desk to do its duty.

I remember as long ago as the late 1970s, there were regular articles on calls for the abolition of caning in schools. It finally happened more or less as I left school. In a way, the calls all seemed a bit academic to me. I never thought I'd get it. It only really happened to other boys.

Was this punishment of choice of a byegone era wrong? Oh, you can hear the cries of "Human Rights Act gone mad". etc. A bit of a nonsense really, because the cane was abolished in this country years before Tony Blair brought the much needed Act in. Our views have changed with time.

That said, Europe played its part.  Throughout the 1980s a number of boys took cases to the European Court of Human Rights.  It was a slow process.  In 1992, Matthew Prince, then aged 25, was awarded £8,000 as a result of a four stroke caning he had received when he was 15.  A decent amount of money.  Certainly enough to enable him to get his foot onto the property ladder.  I am sure many of us would have welcomed a windfall like that in our mid 20s!

It was a good incentive to me, I reckoned to keep my head down and off the radar of the powers that be. Certainly, quite a few of my friends now who are my age seem to have got it. English, Aussie and Kiwi mates have mentioned having got the cane at school. That said, Kevin Pietersen mentions in his autobiography getting the cane when he was at school in South Africa and he is 10 years younger than I am.

"It didn't do me any harm" is the oft said response. Not sure I agree. It left me with very bruised buttocks which made even walking around very difficult in the immediate aftermath. Even a few days later I remember running for the bus (keen not to get it again, this time for being late) and still being aware that my backside was tender. In the showers after PE lessons, you could easily see who had been on the receiving end of the cane.

Yes, it belongs in the past now. Calls for it to be brought back sound like voices from another age. We have moved on. It still surprises me in my relatively short life how quickly that has happened though.

Did YOU get the cane when you were at school?  If so and you are happy to share your experiences, you might find www.cprem-forum.com interesting!