Kruze Summers: Ipswich project manager brings knife to court in ‘unusual’ scenes

A project manager and tour guide who has previously been charged with carrying a machete in public has faced a magistrate after his belt attracted the attention of courthouse security officers.

An Ipswich man who was once charged with possessing a machete has now faced sentence for mistakenly bringing a knife to court.

Kruze Patrick Summers, 33, of Brassall pleaded guilty in Ipswich Magistrates Court on Tuesday, September 13 to one count of possessing a knife in a public place.

The court heard the man attended the same court on June 24 this year to collect a birth certificate having forgotten a knife with a sharp, 10cm blade was attached to the belt around his waist.

He was stopped about 12.45pm by a protective services officer and detained while police were contacted.

Officers attended the court and spoke with Summers, who explained he had earlier been “out bush” and carried the knife with him “all the time” as he used it for work.

Prosecutor Sergeant Brad Dick said the Ipswich man was asked if he knew it was an offence to carry a knife in a public place.

“ … he stated ‘yes’, because he had been charged previously for possessing a machete,” Sgt Dick said.

Defence solicitor Patrick O’Donnell said his client was a tour guide and project manager who completed his schooling career at Rosewood State High School.

The court heard Tuesday was the fourth time Summers had come before a court.

Magistrate Dennis Kinsella said he had taken into account a number of factors when deciding an appropriate penalty, including Summers’ position and reputation within his community and his work ethic which was by several accounts “very good”.

Mr Kinsella told the man the charge before the court would ordinarily be one of great concern, but was in this situation the result of “inadvertence”.

He accepted Summers was carrying the knife as he intended to use it for work purposes.

Noting the “unusual” nature of the matter, Mr Kinsella issued him with a fine of $400 and decided not to record a conviction.