Aspiring barrister jailed for carrying 'Rambo knife' outside Leeds McDonald's
A law student who harbours ambitions of becoming a barrister has been jailed after he was caught carrying a “terrifying” knife in Leeds.
Dennis Utshwaya claimed he was attacked outside a nightclub so got an Uber to his father’s address to pick up the “Rambo-style” blade and return to the city centre.
The judge at Leeds Crown Court said he had no legal reason to be carrying the razor-sharp weapon, before sending him into custody and telling him that the “message must go out” to those who carry knives.
Patrolling police officers had been alerted by security workers at McDonald’s on Briggate on the evening of October 19 that a man was carrying a blade.
When police approached, one of the gang with Utshwaya tried to block them getting to the 19-year-old, prosecutor Emily Thorbjornsen said.
Utshwaya then ran after being told to put his hands out by the officers.
The security guard was able to trip him up and officers arrested him.
Utshwaya tried to reach for the knife that was in his waistband but was prevented. He then gave a no-comment interview at the police station.
He has no previous convictions.
Mitigating, Fuad Arshad said that Utshwaya was a second-year law student at Huddersfield University with dreams of becoming of barrister, but conceded he may have thrown his future away because of his behaviour.
He said: “Whatever happened that evening, there can be no justification from this young man.
“His actions were stupid, reckless and maybe born out of a very serious degree of immaturity. It’s very much out of character.”
Utshwaya, of Ellerton Road, Sheffield, had said he was punched to the face outside the nightclub that night, so went to gather the knife to protect himself.
Judge Tom Bayliss KC accepted there was remorse, but said: “It was not just any knife, it was a large ‘Rambo-style’ knife. It was a terrifying weapon.
“It’s the sort of weapon that has no other use but to inflict injury. It has no domestic use.
“You made a cold decision to to return to where you had been assaulted with that terrible weapon.”
He said that Utshwaya’s life had been affected by knife crime, having seen one of his friend’s murdered at a party in Leeds.
He told him: “You of all people should know the danger of carrying a knife.”
He jailed him for 12 months.