A pensioner was too terrified to return to her own home – after her neighbour turned up in the middle of the night armed with a knife.
The 72-year-old was woken at 1am by Mohammed Khan knocking on the bedroom window of her Lockwood bungalow.
Khan urged her to open the door, pleading: “Let me in, I’m bleeding.”
Believing him to be hurt, the elderly woman answered her door.
The 48-year-old then walked into her home carrying a kitchen knife, which he made stabbing motions with.
Sentencing him to a suspended term of imprisonment, Deputy District Judge Wajeed Khalil said that he was disturbed by the frail woman’s account.
He said: “He’s placed her in such a risky situation in her own home and failed to recognise the impact of his behaviour.”
Khan, of Oxford House in Swan Lane, pleaded guilty to possession of a bladed article in public.
Prosecutor Jill Seddon told Kirklees Magistrates’ Court that the victim was asleep in bed when she was disturbed by him at around 1am on July 29.
She said: “She said that she got up and went to the door and he was stood there with a kitchen knife, saying that he was going to kill himself.
“He then walked past her into the kitchen and said to call an ambulance.
“She tried to take the knife off him but he kept hold of it, making stabbing motions and motioning towards himself that he was going to cut himself.”
The victim told Khan that she was going to call police, not an ambulance and he refused her requests to put the knife down.
Mrs Seddon told the court that following her ordeal, the woman struggled and was fearful that Khan might return and cause harm to her.
She has since put herself on the waiting list to be rehoused by Kirklees Council.
Mrs Seddon said: “The victim said she was frightened and it made her want to move.
“She couldn’t sleep and is being supported by the council’s former Asbo unit.
“She’s frightened that the defendant, who left some property at her home, will go back and get it.
“She lives in very close proximity to the defendant and is aware of him being aggressive and nasty to others in the street.”
The Huddersfield court heard that Khan, who had been drinking, suffered from mental health issues.
Judge Khalil said: “You’ve attended at the address at an ungodly hour when the lady will have been asleep.
“At 1am you, with a knife, were knocking on the door of a neighbour who over the years has no doubt been helpful.
“You’ve failed to recognise the impact of your behaviour which was frankly quite selfish.
“You have placed her in such a risky situation in her own home and I take a very serious view of this matter.”
Khan was sentenced to 16 weeks in custody, suspended for a year.
Judge Khalil made a restraining order banning him from contacting the victim or attending at her home.
He ordered the forfeiture and destruction of the knife and told Khan to pay £85 costs and £115 victim surcharge.
