Two teenagers were sentenced after pleading guilty to knife possession in Magistrates’ Court yesterday — with senior magistrate Maxanne Anderson condemning the trend as a “major problem”.

It comes after a police appeal this week for the public not to carry bladed articles in the wake of five arrests for the offence over the Easter holiday weekend.

Deillo DeSilva and Kenajae Landy-Bean were arrested in separate incidents but both gave the same explanation for carrying the weapons — that they used them when they went fishing.

DeSilva, 19, from Pembroke, was stopped by police after disobeying a traffic light on Victoria Street in Hamilton on the evening of April 17.

He was searched by officers who found a knife with an 8in blade under the seat of his motorcycle.

The college student told police that he used the knife when fishing.

Defence counsel Tanisha Butler said DeSilva did not know it was illegal to carry bladed articles and told the court that he had learnt his lesson.

However, Ms Anderson fined DeSilva $3,000.

She said that she took into account his early guilty plea and remorse but added that the island had a “a major problem with knife offences”.

She added: “Just about every other person is walking around with a knife, which is not good.”

The second defendant escaped a custodial sentence after being found in possession of a knife in the early hours of last Friday.

Kenajae Landy-Bean, 19, from Southampton, was at the Salt Kettle ferry terminal in Paget when he was approached by police.

A search found a 16in knife with a cutting edge of 9.6in in a plastic bag carried in Landy-Bean’s sweatpants.

Prosecutor Kael London told the court that Landy-Bean had been given a conditional discharge for a similar offence in 2023 and could be jailed.

However, he noted that Landy-Bean was young and that having a suspended custodial sentence “hanging over his head” would encourage him to behave.

Ms Butler, representing Landy-Bean, said that he often fished from the ferry terminal and that it was not unusual for people to go fishing at night.

“He had no intention untoward with the fillet knife,” she said.

Asked if he had anything to say to the court, Landy-Bean told Ms Anderson: “I just want to apologise. It won’t happen again.”

Ms Anderson sentenced Landy-Bean to 12 months in custody, suspended for two years.

She again emphasised that knife crime was “a major problem” and that simple possession of a blade in a public place amounted to a criminal offence.

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