A MAN threatened to “chop up” his sister’s partner when he kicked him out for taking drugs.
Stephen Walters, 36, had been staying with his sister and her partner in Llanybydder since Christmas, but on the condition that he didn’t take drugs.
Prosecutor Emily Bennett told Swansea Crown Court that on February 22, Walters, his sister, her partner and a friend were eating when the friend mentioned drugs.
Ms Bennett said that Walters then became defensive, which caused his sister and her partner to say they would ask the person Walters was out with the night before whether he had taken drugs.
“The defendant became angry and started to shout at the complainant calling him a c***,” Ms Bennett said.
Walters threatened him, and the man then told him that he wanted him out of the house and that he’d wanted him out for weeks.
During this exchange, the victim’s two-year-old daughter had come in to the room.
As his sister’s partner went to leave with his daughter, Walters called him “a fat c***” and said “I’ll chop you up in to 10 pieces”.
After he left, Walters told the others that he was “mentally unstable” and could threaten to kill the victim and “get away with it”, Ms Bennett said.
He was ordered to leave the house, and was arrested in a car park in Carmarthen after the victim called 999.
Ms Bennett said that when he was arrested, Walters said words to the effect of: “He’s the one that threatened me”.
In interview, Walters denied making the threats, claiming instead that the victim had “threatened to break [his] legs and bury him”.
Walters denied the offence, but was found guilty following a trial at Aberystwyth Magistrates’ Court on April 2. He was acquitted of threatening to kill his sister and sending by public communication network an offensive, indecent, obscene or menacing message.
The court heard Walters, of no fixed abode, had two previous convictions for six offences.
“He’s been in custody for three months,” said Dean Pulling, in mitigation. “He’s served the equivalent of a six-month sentence.”
Mr Pulling said there had been no previous incidents between the defendant and the victim.
The court heard that Walters had mental health issues which were “probably made worse from taking drugs”.
The judge, Recorder Greg Bull KC, sentenced Walters to six months in prison. He will be released from prison imminently, and will be subject to post-custodial licence conditions for a year.
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