A MAN has been given a suspended jail sentence after a judge heard of his bizarre behaviour on drugs including trying to sell a shopkeeper a machete.
George Hazel-Owram prosecuting told Leeds Crown Court yesterday events began on January 12 when Damien Parchment went into Fartown Newsagents in Bradford Road, Huddersfield.
He approached Matus Ako at the till and asked if he could have £1 or £2, when he was told he could not he showed Mr Ako a mobile phone and asked if he would like to buy it.
When he expressed no interest in the sale, Parchment lifted up the left hand side of his jacket revealing a large knife and asked if he wanted to buy that.
“Mr Ako was taken aback and asked him what he was doing, the defendant laughed and walked off” said Mr Hazel-Owram. Parchment then purchased some lager before leaving.
At that time no complaint was made to the police but later that night and into the early hours of January 13 officers who were on duty were on the lookout for a Vauxhall car after a report of a man waving a machete about, the description matching Parchment.
The vehicle was stopped and Parchment who was in the passenger seat was arrested when a machete was found in the space between the seat and the door. He told police he had found it earlier.
James Gelsthorpe representing Parchment said the shopkeeper had not made a complaint at the time although was “no doubt shocked and perplexed” it was the later incident which led to police involvement.
Parchment had been remanded in custody and for several months was considered by psychiatrist to be not fit to plead. “In the reports from the doctors they consider there is a link between the deterioration in his mental health and substance abuse.”
He had detoxified while in custody and was also now on anti-psychotic medication which had seen an improvement in his mental state and being ruled fit to plead. The probation service believed they could work with him.
“He recognises he cannot keep going as he has been.”
Parchment, 34, of Buxton House, New Street, Huddersfield, admitted possessing an offensive weapon was given 18 months in prison suspended for two years with 50 rehabilitation activity days.
Judge Mushtaq Khokhar said the conversation with the shopkeeper was “itself bizarre” but it was his actions later as a result of his taking heroin and cocaine that then led to police involvement.
But he was now in a better state having already served seven months in prison on remand and a chance could be taken with him.
