A sozzled yob caught armed with a blade at a Paisley train station claimed he didn’t know why he had the weapon.
Lewis Rooney, 28, was caught with a black steak knife, with a five-inch serrated-edge blade, on him at Gilmour Street railway station on February 6.
Paisley Sheriff Court heard Rooney had been drinking and taking drugs at a pal’s house, but he had no memory of why he took the knife out with him.
Procurator fiscal depute Raeesa Ahmed said: “At 8pm, police witnesses attended the locus of Paisley’s Gilmour Street station.
“This was in relation to a matter involving an individual in possession of a knife.
“Police attended at the station and the accused was found with the knife.
“It was a black handled steak knife with a serrated cutting edge on a blade five inches long.
“The accused was arrested and taken into custody, but he was not formally cautioned as he was under the influence of alcohol.”
Rooney, of Kilsyth, North Lanarkshire, pleaded guilty to possession of an offensive weapon.
Defence agent Michelle Skelly told how her client had “little recollection” of why he was armed with the blade when he was arrested.
She said: “He had been out with a friend drinking alcohol and had been taking Valium.
“Thereafter, he has no recollection of the events.
“It is his position that he did not leave the house with the knife.
“And he has no idea as to how he ended up with it in his possession.
“He had no intention to have the knife on him.”
Ms Skelly said Rooney had been the victim of a serious attack in March that left him with both “physical and psychological” issues.
She urged the court to consider deferring sentence to allow him to recover from the attack before handing him his punishment.
She said: “He would be fit to undertake unpaid work in the future as part of an order imposed by the court.”
Sheriff Colin Pettigrew told him: “I have to be concerned about someone in possession of a knife in a public place.
“And there is this particular public place which is regularly frequented by people in the locality, so it is quite a public place.
“You will understand that there has to be a punitive element because of the serious nature of this offence.”
He continued the case until July 22 to obtain an up to date background report.
Rooney was told to return to court on that date to discover his fate.
