A 32-YEAR-OLD man has been sent to prison for one year for carrying a “large kitchen knife” around town.
Paweł Damian Kwiatkowski was sentenced in the Royal Court yesterday for possessing an offensive weapon in public without lawful authority or reasonable excuse.
The court heard that Kwiatkowski was told to leave the Mary Rose pub on Mulcaster Street on 11 December last year after being disruptive and was described as being “intoxicated” by staff.
After Kwiatkowski was ejected, CCTV later captured him walking near the Royal Yacht with a large kitchen knife “clearly visible in his back pocket”.
At around 1.20am, Mary Rose door staff noticed Kwiatkowski talking to a member of the public with a knife in his hand and called the States police, who instructed them to get everyone inside the bar and lock the door.
Kwiatkowski was arrested after police arrived at the scene.
He told the police that he only had the knife for defence and had not attacked anyone, but he did state: “If someone attack, then boom – I attack.”
During a police interview the next day, Kwiatkowski made it clear that he was intoxicated at the time of the incident and claimed not to remember getting the knife, but maintained he had had it for self-defence.
Kwiatkowski also stated that he had never carried a knife before in Jersey, but admitted that he had done so in the Netherlands, where he said he had been stabbed, causing an injury to one of his lungs.
He showed significant regret and remorse, the court heard, and told officers he was grateful that they had arrested him, saying something bad might have happened had he not been detained.
Kwiatkowski pleaded guilty during his first appearance in the Magistrate’s Court on 13 December 2024, before being remanded in custody. He was yesterday sentenced to 12 months’ imprisonment.
The court also ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the knife, but did not make a recommendation for deportation.
