Drunk threatened pregnant woman
A VILE drunk threatened to slit a pregnant woman's throat during a terrifying ordeal in an Ipswich store.
A VILE drunk threatened to slit a pregnant woman's throat during a terrifying ordeal in an Ipswich store.
In the space of half an hour, out-of-control Darren Knox made the threat to a trainee manager and told her boss “I'll put you in hospital”.
Today the 36-year-old forklift driver, from Belstead Road, Ipswich, is subject to a 24-month supervision order and £140 out of pocket after magistrates sentenced him for targeting a vulnerable woman.
Knox pleaded guilty to a charge of behaving in a threatening and abusive manner earlier this month and appeared at South East Suffolk Magistrates' Court on Wednesday for sentencing.
Sandra Dyer, prosecuting, told the court that the shop worker's nightmare began at about 3.30pm on June 6 when two people left Lifestyle Furniture in St Matthew's Street and set off a security system.
The store's trainee manager, who was four months pregnant at the time, went to talk to the people but before long Knox approached and said “OK I'm here to protect you”.
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The employee told him she didn't need his help, prompting him to erupt into a tirade and declare she had an attitude problem.
He called her a number of obscenities before saying: “I'm going to slit your throat.”
The woman radioed her manager for assistance and walked to another part of the store, prompting Knox to leave.
He soon returned however and when the manager confronted him and asked him to leave, Knox told him “I'm going to do you” before making the threat to injure him.
Soon after police arrived and Knox was rude and aggressive toward them as well.
Ms Dyer said: “It was clear to the officer that he had been drinking and the officer in fact concluded he was drunk.”
Representing himself, Knox told the magistrates: “I'm really sorry for the way I behaved towards people. It's only because I was drunk.”
Magistrate Anthony Baker placed Knox under a supervision order for 24 months and ordered him to pay £75 compensation to the trainee manager and £65 toward court costs.
He told him: “The aggravating features of this case are that it was alcohol-fuelled, there was a vulnerable victim who was pregnant, she was a member of staff who was trying to do her job, there were threats of violence and you used foul and abusive language.”
