Man had machete but did not brandish it’

MAGISTRATES have decided that Ely dad Mark Lesurf did take a machete outside his Ely home when his wife got into a row with a neighbour, but he did not wave it above his head.

After hearing evidence about the incident this week, the court decided that Lesurf did not brandish the weapon, and did not come within three metres of neighbour Leon Franklin.

Mr Franklin had claimed that Lesurf waved the machete over his head and approached him with the blade, but another witness said the blade was held down by Lesurf's side.

At the end of a special hearing this week, Ely magistrates told truck driver Lesurf that he is likely to be given some unpaid work hours for the offence, and they adjourned the case for seven days. They are also planning to order the forfeiture and destruction of the blade.

Forty-three-old Lesurf, of High Barns, had previously admitted possessing the machete in a public place, but there had been some disagreement about what he did with the blade.

Lesurf's barrister Nick Davies told the court that an argument had erupted between Mr Franklin and Lesurf's young son.

That was followed by an argument between Mrs Lesurf and Mr Franklin, and that led to an argument between Mr Franklin and Lesurf.

"Matters would have ended there if my client had not gone into his house to get a knife," he said. "He regrets his actions and recognises it was wrong.

"This was a spontaneous act; he went into the garden in response to the argument to extract his wife and son from the situation.

"It was only when he realised they had not come back inside that he grabbed the nearest thing and went out of the house with in.

"There is no suggestion he brandished the weapon, and there is also very little evidence that anyone was put in fear. Mr Franklin said he was put in fear, but his reaction was to rush towards the defendant."

There had been no further difficulties between the two families since the incident back in July.