A TAKEAWAY boss has been given a suspended prison sentence for chasing a customer out with a knife.
Mohammed Mothin, 47, turned on one of his customers at Ladygate Tandoori in Beverley because he thought there was going to be trouble, Hull Crown Court heard.
Mothin was due to stand trial yesterday but admitted a single charge of affray.
An independent witness said there seemed to be an "atmosphere" between two groups of men who were in the takeaway at about 2am on November 24 last year.
Mothin, of Pearson Park, west Hull, asked the man to leave, but he refused, saying he was waiting for his food and not causing any trouble.
Jayne Bryan, prosecuting, said: "Mr Mothin comes out wielding a large knife, which he holds towards the complainant's chest."
The man, who was not identified, was not injured. He fled the takeaway then called police.
Considering what sentence to impose, Judge Jeremy Richardson QC said: "He probably should have gone to prison if he'd fought it through (in a trial).
"It's really a shopkeeper who has behaved deplorably in getting people out of the shop."
Mothin was sentenced to five months in prison, suspended for 12 months.
The judge told him: "Mohammed Mothin, you are aged 47 and you have no relevant previous convictions, and it's a great shame that you find yourself in the dock of the Crown Court.
"There was a hint of trouble in your shop and you wanted the individuals who were involved out of your shop and you went about it in a wholly unlawful way.
"It warrants prison, but it doesn't need to be an immediate sentence, and the reason I say it warrants prison is because of the knife – you can't go around in this country wielding a knife in order to achieve what might otherwise be a legitimate aim.
"It needs to be clearly recorded; individuals who do this sort of thing, wielding a knife as you did, fall to be punished. But there are a number of mitigating features.
"You behaved very foolishly and you should not have done what you did.
"Had you fought all the way to the end (and been convicted) you would have been sent to prison for six months.
"As it is, you pleaded guilty and I can reduce that."
"You indulged in shameful behaviour and let us hope this is the last time you appear before a Crown Court.
"No more of this. And if there is serious trouble you will go to prison."
