Shoppers were ‘terrified’ when three teens began fighting in the middle of a Primark in Nottingham – one of the teens, armed with an 18-inch blade, was spared jail
A teen who ran into a Primark shop with an 18-inch blade, terrifying shoppers, was spared jail this week.
Horrifying footage played to Nottingham Youth Court revealed three masked teenagers fighting in a Primark in the Midlands city.
The clip shows a 16-year-old schoolboy carrying a knife being chased into the shop by two others, one of them carrying a broom handle. Then, a woman had to quickly usher away a child from close to the scene as the 16-year-old and one of the two “aggressors” fought.
The boy with the knife then thrusted forward with what prosecutor Mark Fielding said was an 18 inch bladed weapon and stabbed the victim to the shoulder area of his upper body.
The boy then fled out of the store via the escalators while being followed by a security guard during the incident on February 23.
Police that day were called to the Primark in Nottingham to reports of a boy, 17, being stabbed in “full view” of shoppers according to Mr Fielding.
The prosecutor said: “In essence the defendant had gone out that day armed with a Zombie knife or machete. It was certainly an 18 inch long bladed article. He appears to have got involved in an argument and is chased by two youths into Primark where he stabs one of them to the shoulder area.
“Irritatingly the victim, whatever his age was, would not cooperate with the police and would not give a statement. It is obvious from the CCTV that members of the public and staff members in Primark were terrified for their own safety.”
The 16-year-old, from the Basford area of the city, was eventually arrested and charged. He pleaded guilty to wounding without intent to cause grievous bodily harm and possession of a bladed weapon in a public place in relation to the stabbing when he appeared at Nottingham Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday, February 26.
At this week’s sentencing hearing on Wednesday, March 26, by his mother, her partner and his grandmother.
It was at this hearing the teen was handed a 12-month youth referral order by chairman of the bench Roger Murfin.
Mr Murfin said: “We take into account that you were acting in self-defence but you were carrying a highly-dangerous weapon and this is not the first time you have done this.
“It happened in the city centre and the public were quite rightly terrified.”
As part of the order, the youth was handed a curfew confining him to his home address between 8pm and 7am each evening for three months and a three-month exclusion from Nottingham city centre.
Asked about himself by Mr Murfin, the teen told how he is studying for his GCSEs which he will be taking this May and June and that he enjoys boxing and football.
Asked about the incident and the knife, he replied: “I should not have been involved in any of it, I should have stayed at home. I regret that it happened. It was just a stupid mistake, I am not around those kinds of people anymore, I just want to keep myself to myself.”
Michaela Dunk, mitigating, said her client was the one being chased by the other two and was “not the aggressor” in the situation. She said: “He was being attacked by two males, they are not known to him, he was on his own.
“He has a supportive family who did the right thing by contacting the police.”
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