A YOUNG man who, in a ‘moment of madness’ grabbed a Stanley knife during a dispute in Oxford, has been jailed.

Imam Pobi-Da-Silva, 23, was sentenced at Oxford Crown Court on Friday (June 7) for one count of possession of a bladed article in a public place and one count of being concerned in the supply of a Class B drug.

The youth was caught with the knife in the Nuffield College car park in Worcester Street on November 26 last year after retrieving the blade from a car during an altercation.

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Recorder Alan Gardner KC jailed Pobi-Da-Silva, of Nire Road, Reading, for 11 months. He also made him subject to a serious violence reduction order for 18 months upon his release, which means police will be able to closely monitor him.

During the sentencing, it was heard that on July 28, 2020, at Luton Train Station, Pobi-Da-Silva was caught with another man who was in possession of crack cocaine.

He was arrested due to his association with the man and two mobile phones were seized.

The defendant said it ‘was nothing to do with him’ but after officers analysed the phones, it was found that messages ‘consistent with drug dealing’ had been made by the youth.

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He was charged and released on bail.

On November 20 last year, the defendant was ejected from the Atik nightclub in Park End Street, Oxford along with two groups of men.

Officers warned the groups to ‘move on’ and specifically told the defendant to ‘calm due’ after he told them: “Arrest me, I’ll make 100 bags.”

CCTV then later caught the youth in the Nuffield College car park retrieving something from a car. Police quickly intervened and a knife fell from his clothing.

Recorder Gardner said he did not want to speculate but stressed something serious could have happened if Pobi-Da-Silva had ‘continued the dispute’ after retrieving the knife.

The court heard that the defendant has previously been jailed at a youth offenders institute for having a loaded shotgun in a public place.

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Defending the youth, his barrister explained that it was a ‘moment of madness’. She stated that the knife did not belong to her client but was a piece of work equipment belonging to a friend.

Despite being in possession of the knife, she said there is ‘no suggestion’ in the past that he has ever wounded someone with a knife.

She added that he suffers from multiple sclerosis, which was diagnosed in 2020, and that he has ‘turned his life around’.