Grandfather left shocked after police fine him for carrying a pocket knife
Wayne ‘Cowboy’ McLennan, a 75-year-old grandfather from Chinchilla, Queensland, was leaving his local pub after grabbing a beer last month when he was stopped by police, breathalysed, and charged for wearing a pocket knife in public, something he’s done since he was 14 years old.
McLennan told A Current Affair, "I just said I'd head home now, get me four cans in a bag and just walked down the steps and the police pulled in behind … as I was walking down the steps ... she said 'I'm going to bretho (breathalyse) you', I said 'ok'.”
He blew sightly over the alcohol limit, so the officer took him to the local police station, just 100m down the main road. There, he blew under the limit, so he thought he was free to go, but the officer surprised him. "While I was there she said 'but I am going to charge you for wearing a pocket knife in public'. I said 'what? ... I didn't know you weren't allowed to wear one ... I've been wearing one since I was 14-years-old'. She said 'that's it, that's the law'.”
The law in question is Section 51 of Queensland's Weapons Act, which states that a person must not physically possess a knife in a public place or school unless the person has a reasonable excuse.
McLennan, a bushman who’s worked on the land his entire life, doesn’t go anywhere without his pocket knife. "Well if I got to go and put a bale of hay out, I use it to cut the string and then open a bag of horse feed, use it to open the top," he explained to reporter Pippa Bradshaw.
He had no idea such a law existed, or that he was unintentionally violating it every time he went out in public with his pocket knife attached to his belt. After being charged by police, he faced court and was fined $100 by a magistrate.
News of his run-in with the law quickly spread around Chinchilla. "That's why people keep ringing me and talking to me about it, they didn't know whether it was true or false," McLennan said. Many locals have expressed their support, pointing out how common it is for people in the area to carry pocket knives. As a result of this encounter with the law, however, Cowboy now plans to leave his pocket knife at home in the future.