Knifeman locked up after Smethwick supermarket stabbing
A knifeman who cut himself and the owner after pulling out a machete in a supermarket has been locked up for 27 months.
Raynardo Salmon snapped when he was asked to leave the Top Tak shop in Cape Hill, Smethwick, where he had been acting suspiciously on November 7, Mr Ravi Sidhu, prosecuting, told Wolverhampton Crown Court.
The 20-year-old, who was of previous good character, refused and produced the large knife from his waistband but was quickly grabbed by Najeeb Ahmadi, who runs the supermarket.
Both received wounds to the palm of the hand and a finger during the scuffle before a friend of the owner joined in, wrapping the defendant in a bear hug which prevented him from moving his arms.
The two men then frogmarched him up and down aisles in the supermarket before pushing him over the counter and taking him to the floor where he was disarmed, punched and stamped on.
Salmon had been standing in the store with a mobile phone to his ear for some time but refused to answer when Mr Ahmadi asked if he could help him.
He then left when the friend of the owner came in before returning soon afterwards when he was asked to leave, continued the prosecutor.
Mr Richard Franck, defending, said "rough justice" was meted out to the defendant who was found to have a balaclava and gloves in his pockets but the barrister insisted:
"He is very sorry about what happened but he was not there to steal anything. He had lost his job, was in danger of losing his home and was angry at the behaviour of Mr Ahmadi's friend.
"Another person who came in stamped down on him while he was lying on the floor after being punched."
Mr Franck said the defendant wanted to be sentenced without waiting for the writing of a pre sentence report which might have saved him from going into immediate custody.
Salmon from Gillett Road, Edgbaston pleaded guilty to unlawful wounding and possession of an offensive weapon.
He was sent to a Young Offenders Institution for two years three months by Judge Amjad Nawaz who observed: "It is incomprehensible for someone so young on his first offence to be sentenced without a report that means there is only one sentence available, closing other avenues that might have been open to you."
