Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
I was treated like criminal for having knife in lunch box
A court interpreter says he was made to feel like a criminal when security staff called police after finding a fruit knife in his lunch box.
The small blade was discovered among his cutlery and confiscated by officials marshalling the door of the city’s magistrates court.
But officers quickly decided the knife owned by Russian and Lithuanian speaker Saulius Cajauskas was not an offensive weapon and no crime had been committed.
Mr Cajauskas, 42, said the ordeal left him feeling embarrassed, shaken and upset and the episode cost him loss of work.
He complained about his treatment to the HM Courts and Tri- bunals Service, which employs the security staff and says he later received a letter of apology over the way the incident was handled.
He said: “I felt like a criminal. I had the knife with a spoon and fork and tissues but the security officer pulled it out and said, ‘you’re not supposed to have this. I have to call the police’.
“I tried to explain myself and said to her to keep it because I needed to go upstairs to work, where I had an appointment to translate – but she just showed me the hand.
“When the police arrived, I felt humiliated and was really worried I would get a conviction which would affect my ability to work.
“It was only a little antique knife with a bone handle which I used for peeling fruit.
“I regularly visit court houses but no one had ever mentioned it before.”
Mr Cajauskas, who lives in London, says his work dried up after the agency which employs him stopped calling following the incident in January.
He said: “Fortunately, the agency I work for got the letter and started giving me work again, but I have never been sent back to Canterbury magistrates court.
“I never got my knife back either, which I am disappointed about because it was an antique piece.”
HM Courts and Tribunals spokesman Emma Beer said: “We have a robust security and safety system in place to protect all court users and the judiciary.
“These measures include court security officers, who have the power to confiscate prohibited items from anyone entering the court building.”