A confessed heroin addict who broke into a woman’s house while she slept has been jailed for ten years.

Wayne Eugene Smith, 46, from Pembroke, pleaded guilty to charges of burglary and causing actual bodily harm on March 1.

At his sentencing, Puisne Judge Carlisle Greaves said that during Smith’s 32-year criminal history he has been “fined, confined and treated”, but had continued to find himself before the courts.

“It seems unless we have the capacity to order him some surgery or order him to another uninhabited planet, there is nothing more these courts can do for him — or to him — to deter him from his calamitous journey,” he said. “It seems, therefore, the only recourse left is a focus on the sentencing principle that confers upon him a sentence for the protection of society.”

The court heard that the complainant, a widow and mother of two, woke up at around 3am to see Smith standing in her bedroom.

She shouted at Smith to get out of her house, but he leaped onto the bed, telling her to shut up. The two struggled and fell off the bed, at which point Smith gripped the woman by the throat until she was gasping for air.

He then brought her to a standing position and told her: “I will kill you. I have a knife, I will kill you. Where is the cash?”

Afraid for her safety and her two children, who were asleep in the house, the complainant told Smith that she did have money.

Smith then forced his wool hat in her mouth and told her to bring him to the cash. They walked downstairs and into the kitchen, where the victim gave him $200, and opened the front door. Smith ran away from the property, and the victim called police.

During their investigation, officers discovered Smith’s fingerprints on a rail outside the victim’s bedroom and a warrant was subsequently issued.

Officers arrested Smith on March 4 behind a derelict building near Parson’s Road. He immediately confessed to officers, saying: “I slipped up. I did some nonsense. Just send me up, I did it all.”

At the sentencing, prosecutor Nicole Smith described Smith as a man with an appalling criminal history who repeatedly threatened the victim, leaving her emotionally scarred.

However, defence lawyer Kamal Worrell submitted that a sentence of no more than six years would be appropriate given Smith’s early guilty plea and genuine remorse for the offence, which was the result of his drug addiction.

“He was actually thankful for police not only arresting him but his behaviour,” he said. “He is not the cold criminal who doesn’t care, who tried to get away, who took every effort, legal and otherwise, to avoid conviction.”

Smith himself apologised to the court, the victim and her family for his actions, saying: “I really didn’t mean to disturb their environment like that.”

Delivering his sentence, Mr Justice Greaves said Smith has lived a long life of trouble with a raft of convictions in Bermuda and the US dating back to 1981.

He said Smith has been sent for drug counselling at a number of facilities over the years, but by his own admissions had manipulated the system on each occasion.

“He couldn’t take the rules so he bent them, he broke them,” he said. “He has been doing that from young, and continued throughout his life.”

Mr Justice Greaves noted Smith’s early guilty plea, which saved the victim from having to relive the incident during testimony, but said he could not ignore the high likelihood that he will reoffend once released.

He sentenced Smith to eight years for burglary and another two years for assault, ordering that the sentences run consecutively.