Machete teenager is locked up

Brian Hossack • Published 4 Sep 2010 14:00

A TEENAGE boy has been locked up after being caught walking in Greenock armed with a machete.

Riki Thomas was drunk when CCTV operators spotted him carrying the deadly weapon in Cumberland Walk.

After hearing how the offence had taken place just two weeks afterThomas’s 16th birthday, Sheriff John Herald told the teenager there was no alternative to custody.

Sentencing Thomas to 60 days’ detention, Sheriff John Herald said: “I will not have someone walking the streets of this town with a machete. I will simply not stand for it.

“I take into account your age, and reports tell me you were drunk when you were caught.

“You also accept that you were walking the streets with a machete.

“You will be sent to detention for 60 days.” Greenock Sheriff Court heard how Thomas and a friend had been drinking in a house when the accused spotted the weapon.

Thomas then took the machete and went wandering around the streets.

Defence solicitor Aidan Gallagher said the teenager regretted his actions, but had never intended to use the item.

He added: “He discarded the weapon when police approached but, to his credit, described exactly where it had been dropped and this allowed officers to recover the item, leading to him being charged.

“He was never going to use it and can offer little explanation for what he did.

“I would ask that the remorse he has shown and his age are taken into consideration.”

Thomas, of Maple Road, Greenock, pleaded guilty to possession of a machete in Cumberland Walk on 25 February when he appeared at court on Wednesday.

Tweet

This article appeared in Greenock Telegraph 04 Sep 10

Return to the main index, get more from this section or browse our News archives.

Follow @greenocktele