A man who strolled into an Aberdeen police station with a noxious pepper spray gas canister in his pocket has avoided a prison sentence.
Albert Damean, 21, visited Queen Street police station in Aberdeen on an unrelated matter but was searched and found to have the illegal weapon in his possession.
PAVA spray is commonly used by police to incapacitate dangerous subjects and causes a severe burning sensation.
It is understood to cause more severe pain when sprayed in the eyes than CS gas.
Damean’s solicitor described his client’s decision to take the canister with him to the police station on March 10, 2020 as “sheer stupidity”.
The 21-year-old pleaded guilty to two charges of being in possession of a prohibited weapon and of not holding a firearms certificate for the spray. The maximum imprisonment he could have faced is 10 years.
Fiscal Lynne MacVicar told the court: “Officers found a spray can with the words ‘Bodyguard’ emblazoned on it within his jacket pocket.
“The contents of the can were subsequently analysed by forensic scientists and found to contain the irritant agent PAVA (pelargonic acid vanillylamide), a known noxious substance.”
Defence agent Mike Monro described his actions as “naïve” and suggested that in Damean’s country of birth carrying such an item was not as “frowned upon” as it is in the UK.
He said: “It’s difficult to say anything in regard to this matter that can be viewed as mitigatory other than it was sheer stupidity.
“The accused attended at the police station by arrangement and the naivety of the accused is proved beyond any doubt at all by the fact that when he went to the station he had this item in his possession.
“He knew the police would be speaking to him, he knew he was going to be detained and arrested and for whatever reason, he went down to Queen Street with his eyes wide open and this item in his pocket.
“It is something that he had had in his possession for some time.
“I am not in any way trying to compare society in Britain and society in Romania, but it does appear that perhaps in Romania the possession of such an item as this is not so frowned upon.
“I can assure the court that the accused got the shock of his life when I reminded him of the maximum sentence this court has in connection with a charge such as this.”
Sheriff tells accused spray is only for use by authorised police officers
Sheriff Andrew Miller told the 21-year-old that the offence was a “very serious matter”.
He added: “The canister of spray that you had in your possession is very powerful and is used by authorised public officers to deal with serious violence and disorder.
“This explains why it is a criminal offence for unauthorised people such as yourself to have this spray in their possession.
“It is extremely dangerous when used and available in public where it may fall into the wrong hands.”
As an alternative to a prison sentence, Sheriff Miller sentenced Damean, of Gillespie Crescent, Aberdeen, to a 12-month community payback order and ordered him to carry out 120 hours of unpaid work.
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