A man caught with four knives and half a pair of garden shears in his car claimed he was using them to fix an engine.
Jaroslaw Jankowski, 36, appeared “defensive” and was “acting nervously” when police pulled up behind his stationary vehicle.
A subsequent drugs search did not result in any narcotics, but police did find five bladed items within the vehicle.
Jankowski appeared at Inverness Sheriff Court where he denied five charges of possessing a bladed item without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.
In evidence led by fiscal depute Shay Treanor, police witnesses told the court that they had pulled up behind Jankowski’s vehicle on Carnac Crescent in Inverness at around 1.40am on April 8 last year, at which point he immediately got out of the car.
During a search of the car they found a knife with a taped handle, two Stanley-type knives, a multi-tool with a locking knife and the single blade of half a pair of garden shears.
The items were recovered from the car’s centre console, door and boot.
Car repairs excuse
Taking to the stand in his own defence, and speaking with the aid of an interpreter, Jankowski said that in the run-up to his encounter with police he had been carrying out repairs on a friend’s car.
Defence solicitor Mhyrin Hill showed the court a video of snarled engine belts, which Jankowski claimed he had been attempting to free using a number of the blades.
He said the Stanley-type knives had been too short and he had subsequently tried using the knife with the taped handle and the half pair of garden shears.
The court heard it was usual for him to carry the multi-tool in his vehicle.
But Sheriff Eilidh MacDonald told Jankowski the detail of his defence was not sufficient to provide him with a reasonable excuse for possessing the items and found him guilty on all five charges.
She said: “Despite the fact that I find you guilty of possession of all those different blades I accept that at some point previously you might have been using some of these items to fix your car.
“This is not enough to amount to a reasonable excuse.”
She placed Jankowski, of Johnston Place, Hilton, on a community payback order with 100 hours of unpaid work in the community, to be completed within six months.
