A 51-year-old man has been spared jail after threatening a carpenter with a bayonet in a dispute over food waste being dumped in his garden.
Barry Attwood threatened Nickel Bryan with the long silver sword outside Tasty Flavours, a Caribbean restaurant on Anerley Road, Bromley on March 21 of this year.
Attwood, who admitted one count of affray and two counts of possession of an offensive weapon in an earlier hearing, had previously claimed that the bayonet was actually a wooden sword covered in tinfoil.
However, he admitted at the Old Bailey on Friday that it was in fact an old bayonet that had been owned by his grandfather.
Ann Abel, prosecuting, told the court that the incident occurred following a dispute between Attwood and Wilton Wilson, the owner of Tasty Flavours.
Attwood approached Mr Bryan, pulling out a long silver sword from a scabbard in his waist band
She said Attwood believed that food waste from the restaurant, which backed onto his property, was blocking a drain at the rear of his garden and causing a “stench”.
She said that on the day of the incident, Attwood had confronted Mr Wilson, saying that food was being thrown into his garden.
Attwood was said to have then threatened the restaurant owner by wrapping a chain around his knuckles and brandishing it like a knuckle duster, calling him a “black c***”.
Mr Wilson went back into his restaurant and phoned the police.
A short while later Attwood approached the restaurant again, where he found Mr Bryan, a carpenter who had been working on the roof of the building.
“Attwood approached Mr Bryan, pulling out a long silver sword from a scabbard in his waist band,” she said.
“He pointed it at Mr Bryan and shouted at him before walking off.”
Attwood was arrested by police after the incident, and in an interview on March 22 he denied threatening Mr Wilson with a knuckle duster.
“He denied threatening Mr Wilson with a knuckle duster and he denied making any racial remarks,” Ms Abel said.
“He said that Mr Bryan had a hammer, so he pulled out a wooden sword covered in tinfoil in self defence.”
However, he later admitted the offences at Bexley Magistrates’ Court on June 6.
Judge Rebecca Trowler KC gave Attwood a 14-month suspended prison sentence, and ordered that he not come within five metres of Tasty Flavours for the next six months.
The judge also ordered Attwood to compete 25 rehabilitation activity requirement sessions, and to pay £85 in costs.
