He came unstuck though when stopped by police in Captain Cook Drive for a random breath test.

Groves, 35, had not been drinking and so gave a negative result.

But then the officers found the knife.

A check revealed Groves was also a disqualified driver.

Groves did not dispute the police facts put before magistrate Tony Murray in Albury Local Court, but disagreed that he should be charged over the knife.

Groves was pulled over by police on November 27 at 3.45pm.

Defence solicitor Tim Hemsley put to Mr Murray that it was OK for Groves to have the knife as it was part of a multi-tool device, one that also contained a screwdriver.

Mr Hemsley argued that Groves had a “lawful purpose” for possessing the knife at the time.

He drew Mr Murray’s attention to comments of Groves’ in the police brief where he talked about how “he’s just finishing moving”.

The implement, he said, had therefore been used for a legitimate purpose.

“You can’t separate them,” Mr Hemsley said of the screwdriver and the knife.

But Mr Murray said his issue was that Groves had not provided any evidence about exactly what he had been moving.

“There’s just a paucity of material as far as that’s concerned,” he said.

“I find the offence proven.”

Mr Murray said Groves would not be penalised by his plea of not guilty to the count of custody of a knife in a public place.

The defendant had pleaded guilty to the disqualified driving charge.

Mr Murray convicted Groves and fined him a total of $1250.