Man Arrested For Having Samurai Sword After He Fell On It And Called 999
An Ipswich man has suffered the most brutal insult to injury after first accidentally cutting himself with his samurai sword, and then receiving a criminal conviction for owning one.
Shaun Hogg, 45, literally fell on his own sword after he removed it from the wall to give it a clean. He slipped and fell, slicing his chin on the blade.
As per the Ipswich Star, the 45-year-old called 999 and was taken to hospital by paramedics, who told hospital staff what happened. Hospital managers then told the police, and Hogg was arrested.
Hogg’s prized katana was kept on a wall mount at his home, but it turns out even ornamental swords are illegal in the UK if they’re longer than 30cm. There are some exceptions made for antique collecting, but this wasn’t the case here.
Prosecutors said Hogg had made searches online about last year’s changes to laws around owning bladed weapons, which banned ‘zombie-style’ knives and machetes, and wrongly concluded he could own a katana. Or rather, decided he would chance it.
He was handed a four-month prison sentence suspended for 18 months and ordered to undertake a rehabilitation programme.
Oh, he also pleaded guilty to an unrelated offence in which he had breached a three-year ban from Colchester city centre, imposed in October 2023 when he hit a police car with a stolen disability vehicle while escaping from police.
Furthermore, he admitted to kicking a police officer while in his cell, although he insisted it was an accident.
So yeah, maybe not the kind of guy you want in possession of an illegal katana, even if it is only decorative.
Hogg promised this would be the last time he would ever be brought into court, saying: ‘I’m going to change. I’ve had enough.’
That’s the spirit! What I really want to know is how he managed to “fall” on his katana in the first place, though. I suspect doctors hear that one all the time.
For the high school teacher who forced his students to sword fight in class, click HERE.
