Judge’s warning on knives needs to be heeded before carrying them is the norm
KNIFE crime is at epidemic proporti ons i n London. Sky News have been highlighting the seriousness of the situation f or the past number of weeks and i t ’s something that we cannot i gnore i n this countr y.
And, when the District Court Judge in this area begins issuing warnings about the same threat rearing its head in this country then it’s really time to sit up and take notice.
It does appear that many young people are carrying knives. This so-called “for my own protection” is often rattled off excuse to Gardaí when the person is found to be carrying one.
Judge Kilrane is so correct when he says that a knife can be pulled on someone in a split second of temper.
Last week he remanded a young man in custody over a week-end for the offence of having a knife in public and pulling it on a doorman of a pub.
When the matter came back before a special sitting of the court the teenager was fined €300. The Judge also used the occasion once more to warn about the dangers of knife crime.
He also addressed the young man’s father who had turned up in court.
“You seem to express amazement and outrage that your son was sent to prison. If you were working on a door and someone intoxicated came up and pulls a knife on you how would you feel about it?” he asked the father.
“Not good at all,” came the reply. The Judge said if the doorman had said what would have been perceived as one wrong word or any word at all, serious injury or worse could have been caused.
“I hope he has learned his lesson having had a taste of St Patrick’s Institution,” said Judge Kilrane.
He added that the carrying of knives was gaining traction in Galway and was “creeping into this county.”
And, the Judge isn’t one bit alarmist. The carrying of knives in Sligo is certainly on the rise. I’ve witnessed this ‘normalisation’ of knife carrying first hand only last week-end.
It’s a menace that the Gardaí are aware of and in fairness are clamping down on as much as they can.
To see a man walk openly as I did last week-end into a busy fast food restaurant in Sligo carrying a serious looking dagger on a belt around his waist tells me that’s there’s a real problem.
For this man to think it was okay to do so is quite alarming.
He didn’t look like he was going to do anything out of harm’s way but did he honestly think that walking around in public with a side arm like this was not against the law?
Everyone in the restaurant, bar me it seemed, were oblivious to the lethal weapon this man had.
And, it was no ordinary kitchen knife. This had all the appearance of being a hunting knife.
How did this man think it was fine to be walking around with such a lethal weapon in a sheath on a combat style belt I do not know.
One thing is for certain, it needs to be brought to his attention and the friends who were with him that this is not acceptable and is most definitely against the law.
If every young man decides it’s acceptable to be walking around with a knife then serious incidents are bound to happen as night follows day as Judge Kilrane has warned.