A 12-month sentence handed to a serial burglar was described as manifestly inadequate in a Supreme Court appeal.Crown counsel Susan Mulligan cited 46-year-old Stanley Davis’ dozens of prior convictions for burglary as she argued why he should have been given a tougher sentence.Davis was jailed for a year after he admitted he broke into a hotel room occupied by two visitors while on probation.The court had heard that on November 22, 2010 American Ronald Keaton, 67, woke to find Davis kneeling at the foot of his bed and confronted him.The pair fought. Davis shouted that he had a gun and was able to escape the second-floor room by leaping from its balcony.DNA on a hat and a sweatshirt at the scene linked Davis to the burglary. He was later arrested on another burglary offence.Senior Magistrate Archibald Warner sentenced Davis to one year in prison. He ordered that the sentence be served subsequent to a two-year sentence relating to another offence.Yesterday Ms Mulligan said the sentence was inadequate.She argued that the offence was the worst possible type of burglary and Davis was the worst kind of burglary offender.Said that while a hotel is not classified as a home, Davis should have expected that someone would have been in the room in the early morning.“It wasn’t that he went into an empty building and took cash,” Ms Mulligan said. “He went in the middle of the night into a hotel room. One must assume that he suspected that there would be a person in the room.”The situation turned violent once Davis was confronted, she said.Ms Mulligan said that Davis has a massive list of priors, including 36 convictions for burglary.She acknowledged that Davis deserved some discount for his early guilty plea, but insisted there were no other factors in his favour.The Crown counsel said that the maximum sentence for the offence is five years’ imprisonment and a $10,000 fine. She called for Davis to be sentenced to three years’ imprisonment.“I don’t know if anything will deter the offender, but we do have to worry about general deterrence and deterring others from targeting those who visit the Island,” she said.Davis’ lawyer Mark Daniels admitted his client had a long history in the courts, but said the offences are related to his addition to crack-cocaine.He added that Davis genuinely wants to get help but was having difficulty getting back on the right track because he has earned a reputation as a burglar.“When he’s back on the street, it’s a very easy trap to fall into,” Mr Daniels argued. “Who wants to employ him? Who wants to trust him?“Davis feels that the only way he can get the help he needs is to get out of the environment that knows him in the way the court has been presented in the past years.”Regarding the burglary itself, Mr Daniels said Davis was not aware that the hotel room was occupied.“It was not intentional,” Mr Daniels said. “There was an opportunity that Davis took advantage of.”He further noted that Davis has no history of violence, that he’d understandably been attacked by Mr Keaton.Davis had only hit the complainant back in order to make good his escape, Mr Daniels added.After hearing both sides, Chief Justice Ian Kawaley said he would reserve judgement for a later date.