Carrying a knife gets man jail term

A judge made good on his promise yesterday when he jailed a man for carrying a knife.

"I am driving the point home. There is no excuse to be carrying knives in public," Judge Allan Roberts said.

Jason Valentine Richards, 32, was sentenced to 14 days in jail when he appeared in the New Plymouth District Court yesterday.

Richards had been arrested last month for stealing batteries and keys from Mitre 10 Mega.

When police searched him they found a 20cm folding knife in his pocket.

Richards told police he used it to cut pipes and he had recently been employed on a farm.

Defence counsel Julian Hannam said Richards always carried a knife and he had forgotten he had it.

But Judge Roberts did not accept the excuse saying there was none for an unemployed man walking around town with a knife.

"This might remind him to clean out his pockets before he comes into town," the judge said.

Earlier this week Judge Roberts said a zero-tolerance approach would be taken towards people carrying knives after an Eltham man was stabbed in the face during a street brawl.

The judge told Richards that working on a farm recently didn't give him licence to carry the knife.

"You used to have a job.

"Whoop-dee-doo. People need to learn it is unacceptable to carry knives."

- © Fairfax NZ News