Man jailed for more than two years after brandishing machete around in Southsea area during Victorious Festival weekend

Bornwell Third Hakaperi, of Palmerston Road in Bournemouth, admitted possession of a bladed article in a public place and possession of cocaine when he appeared at Portsmouth Crown Court in September.

He was sentenced to two years and three months in prison at the same court on Friday, December 1.

On Saturday, August 26, at 03:21am Hakaperi was captured on CCTV, which is operated by Portsmouth City Council, to be waving a large machete around in the Albert Road area in Southsea.

This incident took place the same weekend of Victorious taking place and the police have said that ‘thankfully no-one was hurt.’

Police were called and Hakaperi was arrested on a nearby street where he was found to have six small bags of white powder and ID showing his details.

Further police enquiries confirmed that the powder was cocaine and a member of the public found the machete in their wheelie bin the next morning and CCTV was secured of Hakaperi disposing of the weapon.

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Chief Inspector Paul Markham said: “Whilst this offence took place in the early hours of a Saturday morning, Albert Road is still a busy part of the city at that time of night, especially when you consider that this was the same weekend on which Victorious festival was taking place. Thankfully no-one was hurt and officers located Hakaperi quickly following some excellent partnership working with our colleagues from Portsmouth City Council.

“We regularly make proactive efforts to target knife carriers and remove weapons from the streets of the city. This work is ongoing, and we hope that this sentence sends a clear message to anyone thinking of carrying a knife that there are serious consequences when they make that decision to pick up a weapon.

“We continue to work alongside a number of agencies in our response to keeping people safe within Portsmouth’s Night Time Economy, including Portsmouth City Council, The Police and Crime Commissioner’s Violent Crime Reduction Unit, Street Pastors, South Central Ambulance Service, CCTV staff and security and staff at all of our licensed premises”.