Islington Council has criticised what it called the “leniency” of a £500 fine given to a shopkeeper who sold knives to a 17-year-old boy The knives were he used just minutes later to stab a man seven times. In a prosecution led by Islington Council Trading Standards, Salman Capti, 26, of Warley Street, E2, was convicted of selling two knives to an underage person at City Supermarket in Goswell Road as well as breaching his licence conditions by having inadequate CCTV in the shop.
After finding the defendant guilty of both offences at a hearing on 9 June, Highbury Magistrates had adjourned the case for sentencing because of “the very serious consequences that resulted from the sale”. However, when the court reconvened on 30 June, the magistrates ordered Capti to pay a £500 fine for the knife offence and a £100 fine for the second offence plus a £50 victim surcharge.
The maximum penalty for selling a knife to a person under the age of 18 is a £5,000 fine and six months in prison, and the fine for the licensing breach could have been as high as £20,000. City Supermarket (UK) Ltd, the company which owns City Supermarket, 190-4 Goswell Road, EC1V 7HJ, was also convicted of the knife offence and was fined £750 and £50 victim surcharge.
They also had to pay £5,000 costs. Cllr Paul Convery, Islington Council’s executive member for community safety, said: “I am disappointed at the extraordinary leniency of the fine in such a serious case. There is an epidemic of knife-related crime in London, which has led to many deaths and injuries. A greater penalty in a case where the sale demonstrably resulted in a life-threatening attack could have impressed on other businesses their moral and legal duty to protect our young people.” Mr Convery said that the council was now considering an appeal against the sentence.