A 19-year-old apprentice butcher has received a suspended jail sentence for terrorising children while dressed as a clown with a stick resembling a long knife, in scenes reminiscent of a slasher movie, reprts The Guardian.
The man, identified only as Thomas, was given a six-month suspended sentence and ordered to complete 105 days’ community service by a judge in the northern French town of Béthune on Monday.
The court heard that the man, from Douvrin, had scared a six-year-old child, a group of teenagers and the owner of a chip stall in his clown suit on Friday evening.
Thomas, who screamed and brandished the weapon in a park before being chased and followed to his home by the chip stall owner, apologised to his victims at the court hearing.
He told the judge: “I saw it on Facebook. At first it was a joke, to scare my friends by dressing up as a clown and shouting boo with a stick like on Facebook. On the video it was a knife, but I didn’t intend to hurt anyone.”
Thomas’s mother described his actions as a bad joke and said she was resentful at what she called a harsh sentence. His charge of premeditated violence with a weapon carries a maximum sentence of three years in jail and a 45,000-euro (£35,000) fine.
Read more of this report from The Guardian.