Armed police were called to the incident and arrested James Christopher Power (32), who had pulled the knife from his back pocket during a fight with the other man, in West Park Avenue.
Sentencing Power, Assistant Magistrate Peter Harris condemned the behaviour of the two men.
He said: ‘It is not the sort of thing that anyone wants to see on the streets of town.
‘There were children about and people would have been frightened,’ he said.
Power, who had already spent six months in custody, was sentenced to 12 months’ probation after he admitted charges of affray and possession of an offensive weapon on 14 January.
However, Mr Harris wanted to stress ‘this was not a case of a man raising a knife being given probation’. He said that as Power
had already served the equivalent of nine months in custody, the court could have locked him up for only another two months at most.
Mr Harris said that by imposing the probation order the defendant’s behaviour could be supervised for a year, and if he stepped out of line it would be a breach of the order.
Police legal adviser Susie Sharpe said just that after 11 am CCTV cameras captured Power, the other man involved and a woman walking arm in arm, and the three made their way towards the HSBC cashpoint in front of the Hospital.
She said that the other man moved off in a different direction but Power was seen ushering him back towards the cash machine. Miss Sharpe said that at 11.22 am the other man was seen to move his head toward Power’s face in what appeared to be a headbutt but it was not clear.
She said: ‘Power then lashes out with his fist and drags the other man into the unloading area of the General Hospital. They continue to struggle and end up on the ground.
‘Both parties are on the floor rolling around, and once they get back to their feet, Power moves his right hand to his rear pocket and gets out a knife. The other man runs off and Power chases after him with the knife still in his hand.’
Miss Sharpe added that Power seemed to be ‘jabbing’ the knife towards the other man but she told the court there were no injuries caused by the blade.
Miss Sharpe said that there was a constant stream of traffic during the incident and a father was also seen to grab his child away from the two running men.
Advocate Francesa Pinel, defending, said her client, who had a long criminal record, had entered guilty pleas when he first appeared in court on 16 January.
She said that Power had come off worse from the fight, as he had a broken nose.
