A MOTORIST pulled a machete from the boot of his car in an attempt to ward off a rowdy mob who surrounded him outside Gillingham Football Club.

Alioune Haynes, 28, was kicked in the face and his car was badly damaged.

When he reported the attack to the police, he was the one who ended up in court facing a criminal charge.

He was not charged in connection in with the machete during incident but because it had been in his car for up to six weeks prior to the incident.

The bill for the car repair was nearly £4,000 and when offered a caution for having a bladed article in a public place, Mr Haynes refused it, thinking he had done nothing wrong.

Mr Haynes, of Penrith Court, Hazlemere Drive, Gillingham, appeared for sentence at Canterbury Crown Court, having admitted the charge, and was conditionally discharged for three months.

The incident happened in July last year, as he drove past the Blue Rock Cafe at Gillingham Football Club, and he hooted at people in the road.

Deborah Charles, prosecuting, said: “There was no aggression and they parted slightly, but then his car was kicked and damaged considerably.”

The crowd became more aggressive. They took his cap and keys and he was punched.

He produced the machete, which someone tried to take from him, before running off.

Miss Charles said: “The criminality is said to be that he had the machete in his car four to six weeks before the incident. “Leaving it in his car and forgetting about it is not a good reason to have it.”

Miss Charles said he had bought the machete to chop down his partner’s overgrown garden.

One person subsequently appeared in court for the attack on the car and was fined £300, and ordered to pay £200 compensation.

Marie Spenwyn, for Mr Haynes, said as a result of the incident he had had to pay a higher insurance premium.

She said: “He had done nothing to warrant the damage. He just held the machete in front of him, then got his keys back and drove off.”

In sentencing, Judge Michael O’Sullivan said Mr Haynes sounded his horn perfectly legitimately and what followed was disgraceful conduct by those in the street.

He said the Crown said it was reasonable for Mr Haynes to have the machete in the street, having regard to the aggressive people around and the damage, but keeping it in the boot of a car amounted to keeping it in a public place, said the judge, who said he accepted there was no intention to use it unlawfully.