Sunderland man threatened schoolboy with machete

A man who threatened a schoolboy with a machete has been jailed.
Aaron DavisonAaron Davison
Aaron Davison

Aaron Davison, 25, ran towards a group of teenagers near Fordfield Road in Sunderland, before heading off towards his mother's address and smashing a window there.

Neil Pallister, prosecuting said that at around 12:45pm on September 21, the 15-year-old boy was with his friends on a field when they spotted the defendant, "running towards the group holding the machete".

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The court heard that Davison shouted: "I'm going to chop you up, I'm going to kill yous."

Mr Pallister said: "Obviously the boys fled on their bikes."

He said that the boy had described the defendant running back onto Prestwick Road.

In his victim impact statement the boy told of how the incident really frightened him.

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He said: "I hate to think about what may have happened if Aaron has got a hold of me.

"I don't feel safe now."

Mr Pallister said that Davison then ran to his mother's address where she heard a knock on the kitchen window and saw the defendant in the garden.

He said the family had problems in the past and she "was not particularly happy to see the defendant there".

She said he was clearly under the influence of something, was unsteady on his feet and slurring his words.

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Davison was then seen on the roof of a property, still holding the machete, but now with a cut on his arm.

He then asked her for money, she told him she did not have any and walked away.

Mr Pallister said: "Seconds later she heard the sound of breaking glass.

"She went into the rear extension and saw a window had been smashed."

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The court heard that when she went to call police he appeared on the roof of the extension, machete in hand.

He then jumped down and attempted to make off as officers were arriving.

However, Davison was later arrested on Prestwick Road.

Vic Laffey defending said that the Davison's family were present in court today.

Mr Laffey said that at the time of the incident the defendant was in a "downward spiral of bad news and bad choices".

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He said that over a period of eight months in 2018, Davison had lost three close family members to cancer and "all of those deaths had a dramatic effect on him."

Mr Laffey said that the defendant has a two-year-old son and the break-up of the relationship with the boy's mother was going on during the time of the family bereavements as well.

During this 'downward spiral' Davison's alcohol and drug intake had increased however, since being in custody, Mr Laffey said: "He is now alcohol and drug free.

"He is determined as and when he is given the opportunity, to making in-roads in putting his life together again."

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Mr Laffey added that no-one was hurt during the incident and that he had been advised by the defendant's mother that he had paid for the damage to the window and there was no application for a restraining order.

Davison, of no fixed abode, pleaded guilty to threatening with an offensive weapon and criminal damage at an earlier hearing.

Judge Penny Moreland referred to the victim impact statement in which the teen victim had said he was really frightened of the way he had been behaving.

She added that because the incident involved him "brandishing" a weapon in front of a 15-year-old boy, the only appropriate sentence was one of immediate custody.

Davison was sentenced to 18 months in prison.