A MAN who was caught with an imitation gun after he was seen acting strangely at Coventry railway station has escaped a prison sentence – after spending four months in custody.
Ebrima Mendy had pleaded not guilty at Warwick Crown Court to possessing an offensive weapon at the station.
But at a pre-trial hearing his plead of guilty to an alternative offence of possessing an imitation firearm in a public place was accepted.
Mendy (27) of no fixed address, was given a community order for two years, with a rehabilitation activity, and was ordered to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
Prosecutor Thomas Griffiths said that on the afternoon of Saturday November 9 last year staff at Coventry station alerted the police to a man acting suspiciously by the side entrance.
When officers attended they saw Mendy, who was holding what appeared to be a small hammer, and ‘found his behaviour strange.’
So they went over to detain him for a search, and on him they found a hammer with a detachable folding knife and a toy gun – which Judge Barry Berlin observed from a photograph appeared to be about three inches long.
Mendy was taken to the nearby police station, but refused to be interviewed on tape – so a contemporaneous note was taken of his replies, which Mr Griffiths said were ‘somewhat incoherent.’
He added that Mendy had previous convictions for 13 offences, mainly involving dishonesty or drugs.
In relation to a pre-sentence report, Judge Berlin commented: “There is reference to his mental health and auditory hallucinations, and he says he’s medicated for schizophrenia.”
Ranjit Sandhu, defending, said Mendy suffered a break-down in 2017 and received help from the Caludon mental health centre in Coventry for about six months.
Of the toy gun, Mr Sandhu said: “It always remained in his pocket, so no-one was alarmed by it.
“This article was given to him by a friend. There are issues about what the defendant was going to be using it for. He believed it could be placed on a keyring, but he accepts it’s an imitation firearm.”
He pointed out that the offence Mendy admitted carries a maximum sentence of 12 months before he is given credit for his guilty plea.
And he had already spent four months in custody on remand, during which time he has been on medication and his mental health has improved.
Judge Berlin indicated: “It seems to me he is entitled to immediate release.”
But Mr Sandhu suggested that, rather than passing a prison sentence which would simply result in him being freed, Mendy would benefit from a community order, as recommended in the pre-sentence report.
The judge agreed, and told Mendy: “At 2.40 on a Saturday afternoon you were wearing a face covering and a hood, and you were under the influence of crack cocaine and acting suspiciously, plainly unnerving a number of commuters at that station.
“You were a menace. While under the influence you could have used that imitation gun to frighten anyone on that platform. It looks like a real pistol, from what I can see, and it was a busy platform.
“People must feel comfortable and safe in public places, and that is particularly so at stations on a Saturday afternoon.
“The maximum that can be imposed is 12 months, so with any discount for your guilty plea, it would allow your immediate release.
“I’m invited not to do that because you need help, but to follow the recommendation in the report, which I propose to do.”
