Second man jailed after knife threats outside Maidstone bar
Threats to stab door staff outside a bar in Maidstone have led to a second man being sentenced to prison. Rimas Mickevicius armed himself with a kitchen knife during a drink fuelled confrontation outside a premises in Market Buildings, last year. The incident happened during the early hours of 5 January 2019 after Mickevicius had been out drinking with a friend. At around 3.45am the pair were ejected from the bar and became abusive to staff. They left, but then returned brandishing large knives which they motioned in the direction of the victims. To protect themselves, one of the victims threw a stool at them, which Mickevicius then hurled back into a crowd of people, including customers at the premises. They briefly left the scene again, but quickly returned and continued to threaten staff, whilst still armed with the knives. Police attended and the men tried to flee but were stopped and arrested. The weapons were found, having been discarded in a nearby bin. Appearing before Maidstone Crown Court, Mickevicius, aged 29 and formerly of Keogh Road, West Ham, London pleaded guilty to a charge of threatening a person with a blade or sharply pointed article in a public place. He was sentenced on Thursday 16 January 2020 to 15 months’ imprisonment. Tomas Kozeniauskas, aged 34, of no fixed address had previously pleaded guilty to the same offence and was sentenced in April 2019 to 22 months’ imprisonment. Maidstone Chief Inspector, Ray Quiller said: ‘This latest sentence illustrates our absolute determination to ensure that those who carry knives on our streets are dealt with robustly. We remain committed to protecting our communities from knife crime and the harm and devastation it causes. Removing these weapons from our streets is an absolute priority and this includes taking a zero tolerance approach, where officers are proactively pursuing and prosecuting those offenders who think it acceptable to carry them.’
