Teen struck man with pool cue and waved knife
A TEENAGER chased someone around a pool table at a social club, before hitting him with a pool cue and brandishing a hunting knife.
Tyrese Jones walked into the venue with a laughing gas balloon hanging out of his mouth before marching past the bar and pulling the weapon out of his jeans waistband.
Sentencing him at Cardiff Crown Court, Judge Jeremy Jenkins said: “You need to grow up.”
The incident happened at The New Fleurs Sports and Social Club in Portmanmoor Road in Splott at about11.30pm on October 8 last year.
Rachel Knight, prosecuting, said the defendant arrived with friends, got out of a car and walked into the busy social club “with purpose”.
She played CCTV footage, which showed him walking through a packed foyer, through a lounge area, past the bar and into the pool area.
Ms Knight suggested there was a risk of “serious disorder”, as there were so many people in the club. The defendant shouted at a man by the pool table.
Showing the CCTV, she told the court: “He chases that person around the pool table, picks up a cue and whacks him on the back with it.
“He pulls a knife out from his waistband. He has now got a knife in his hand.”
Judge Jenkins observed that people in the club looked young and asked: “Is this a youth club?” Ms Knight replied it was a licensed premises and people there were drinking.
The prosecutor pointed out that a woman at the bar looked “shocked” as the man ran out of the club. The defendant and his friends also left.
Ms Knight said there was a confrontation with another man and Jones could be seen pulling the knife, which glinted in the light, out of his waistband again once he was in the street.
The court heard no-one in the social club was willing to give a statement to the police and the CCTV footage was the only evidence.
Someone called 999 to report Jones carrying a knife and police arrested him at his home in Ely during the early hours of the following day. He gave a “no comment” interview.
Judge Jenkins noted the weapon was described as a hunting knife and asked: “It was not recovered by the police? That is of great concern.”
Jones, 19, from Ronald Place in Ely, admitted possessing a pool cue as an offensive weapon and possessing a hunting knife as a bladed article in a public place.
Andrew Kendall, defending, pointed out his client was “still a young man” and had no previous convictions.
The judge responded: “He will soon have some serious convictions if he behaves like that and carries a knife.”
Mr Kendall said the defendant had a good support network and was assessed to present a low risk of re-offending. He asked for any custodial sentence to be suspended, not immediate.
Judge Jenkins asked Jones: “Think very carefully before you answer this question. Where is the knife? What did you do with it?”
The defendant replied: “I left Adamsdown – close by the scene.”
The judge told him: “It is not cool, it is not smart, it is not clever, it is not big to carry a knife. People who carry knives have the unfortunate habit of using them.”
He noted the defendant admitted to the pre-sentence report writer he “brandished” the knife and the judge said he was “one step away” from using it.
Judge Jenkins added: “If it was a hunting knife, I have no doubt that very serious injury, if not death, could occur. You said you had it for protection. That is a very worrying aspect.
“These courts are full of young people, like you, who resort to the use of knives with tragic results. It is time you realised the consequences. You are on extremely thin ice, Tyrese Jones.”
The judge noted the pre-sentence report found Jones to present a high risk of causing serious harm, but it concluded he could be rehabilitated in the community.
He added: “I am not going to send you into a young offender institution today. You have not been in trouble before. That is remarkable, given the way you instantly turned to violence.”
Jones was sentenced to 12 months’ detention in a young offender institution, suspended for 15 months.
He was ordered to complete 120 hours of unpaid work, plus 10 days of rehabilitation, focusing on temper control and the dangers of carrying knives. The judge said: “The ball is in your court.” it in