A BUS passenger who threatened to stab the driver was yesterday jailed for four months.
Joshua Jones said he would cut the driver’s neck because he would not give him and his girlfriend a refund when they were asked to get off the number six bus en route from Town to St Sampson’s.
The incident began when Jones’s girlfriend took exception to his being told to stop drinking on board.
The Magistrate’s Court heard that Jones had said to the driver: ‘I have a knife in my pocket and I will cut your neck.’
Advocate Andrew Ayres, defending, said that his client did not have a knife on him.
He also rejected any suggestion that the driver feared for his life, pointing out that he had locked the bus with the two passengers inside while he called his inspector.
Advocate Liam Roffey, prosecuting, said that the incident happened at Les Bas Courtils Road, St Sampson’s, at 1.20pm on 19 June. He said that once the couple got off the bus, Jones gesticulated, shouted and lay in the road.
He then walked in the middle of the road in front of the bus, before finally moving out of the way at Grandes Maisons Road.
Jones, 22, of 1, Ormond Flats, Grandes Maisons Road, St Sampson’s, who admitted disorderly behaviour, was identified through the bus’s CCTV system.
Advocate Ayres said that his client had started misusing substances following a motorcycle accident that had put him in a wheelchair for three months.
He suggested that a sentence tackling Jones’s drug misuse would be appropriate.
But assistant-Magistrate Philip Robey said that while that might have its attraction, it was unrealistic for someone with Jones’s record.
He sentenced him to two months in prison for the incident with the bus driver.
Mr Robey imposed a further two months for two offences of theft, which the defendant also admitted.
Jones stole a £23.99 Sony Ericsson headset from Wave Telecom on 25 February and a £29.99 pair of trainers from Sportsdirect on 25 March.
Article posted on 16th July, 2008 - 2.29pm
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