Cardiff defendant also admitted spitting at police officer in a separate incident
AN argument in the middle of a Cardiff street turned threatening after one man attacked another with a kitchen knife.
Lloyd Govier, 26, was caught on CCTV brandishing the knife after being punched in the face twice.
The incident on Clifton Street, in Cardiff, took place on February 5.
The CCTV, shown in court, demonstrated an “escalating” argument between Govier and another man in a black tracksuit.
Govier is seen being punched in the face by the unidentified man, before taking a kitchen knife out of his pocket. He then threatened the man in the tracksuit, running towards him while “brandishing” the weapon.
The footage showed a shopkeeper at the scene, as well as two women walking by.
“There is plenty of opportunity for him to do more, but he does less in fact,” said Cora Sorensen, defending.
“I do not say that my client is not likely to reach a custodial sentence. But this is a lower end category offence, particularly when you look at it as a kitchen knife.
“It’s being brandished in a limited way. The two females and the shopkeeper aren’t running away.
“He just wanted the guy in the black tracksuit to stop punching him.”
Narrating the footage, prosecutor Gregory Lloyd said: “He pulls out a knife and then puts the knife back in his pocket. Then he brings it out of his pocket again and uses it to threaten the same individual again.”
Shortly after the police were called and the knife was thrown away.
“It is quite clear from the footage used that the defendant is brandishing the knife. But there are more individuals there who aren’t threatened,” Ms Sorensen told the court.
“In the defendant’s interview, he said he simply wanted the individual in the black tracksuit to leave him alone.”
Govier, of Meirion Place, Tremorfa, also faced two other charges.
On Christmas Eve 2022, he was arrested for being drunk and disorderly on St Mary Street after getting into an “altercation” with another man.
Once in custody, he repeatedly hit his head and elbow on the wall, and became verbally abusive to police officers, before spitting at one.
He pleaded guilty to threatening a person with an offensive weapon, being drunk and disorderly, and assaulting an emergency worker.
Head magistrate Peter Hamley said Govier would remain in custody until February 16, when the court will decide his sentence based on a probation report.
