A Ballarat man has been fined more than $1000 after being found with silver knuckle dusters and a replica King Arthur sword.
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Father of four, Matthew Reid, faced the Ballarat Magistrates’ Court today facing two charges of possessing a prohibited weapon.
On Tuesday, May 23, police executed a search warrant at Reid’s house in Redan looking for drugs when the weapons were uncovered.
Police located the knuckle dusters on top of a fridge in the house and the double-edged sword wrapped in sheets in another room of the house.
The court heard that Reid had found the knuckle dusters hidden in a box in the house when he moved into the premises but admitted to making no effort to dispose of or destroy the item.
Reid said he bought the sword at a garage sale not knowing it was a prohibited weapon and had intended to display the sword in his home.
Since the search warrant, Reid’s partner had been accepted as a member of the Victorian Historical Edged Weapons Guild and the couple are seeking an exemption to keep the sword.
Magistrate Gregory Robinson warned Reid against further offending and expressed worry about the potential for his behaviour to escalate.
“Your criminal record is starting to look concerning,” he said.
Reid will be forced to surrender the knuckle dusters to police and pay a fine while the order of forfeiture for the sword has been adjourned until the couple hear back about the exemption to keep the sword.