THE reason for Keith King’s outburst towards another man is uncertain, but he was so outraged that he produced a knife and made threats, a court has been told.
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The incident that led to King’s rage happened about 4.45pm on October 9 last year in Albury’s Kiewa Street, and resulted in another man pulling out a crowbar from a nearby ute.
The pair were 10m to 15m apart yelling at each other, raising the concerns of members of the public who appealed to the pair to stop.
But the threats continued.
Eventually King put the knife away into a bum bag that he was wearing.
He started to walk off, but suddenly spun around, took out the knife again and said: “I’ll have you.”
The two men got to within 5 to 6 metres of each other as worried members of the public looked on.
Some of the people were pleading with King to put the knife down and leave and several phone calls to police were made.
King walked across the road into the Target store.
He hit the knife behind a lipstick rack before leaving and avoiding police, who responded almost immediately to the concerned calls.
It wasn’t until two days later that officers managed to arrest King in Waugh Road at North Albury.
King, 21, of Lavington, appeared in custody in Albury Local Court and pleaded guilty to charges of affray and custody of a knife in a public place with two other offences withdrawn by police.
Solicitor Joy Kirby said King has been in custody with bail refused since October 28.
Ms Kirby said the incident began when King and friends were crossing the road and the other man made comments from a ute.
She said King began using cannabis when aged just nine years old and his substance abuse expanded to alcohol and other drugs.
Ms Kirby said King had come to the realisation that he does not like what cannabis does to him.
Magistrate Darryl Pearce said the confrontation was on a main thoroughfares in Albury and clearly people in the vicinity feared for their safety.
Mr Pearce said offences involving knives were viewed by parliament as serious matters.
“Sadly this is a common occurrence with the community - people arming themselves with knives,” he said.
King was given a backdated 18-month jail term, with minimum of 12 months, making him eligible for release on October 27.
Mr Pearce ordered the knife be destroyed.
