Tuesday, December 4, 2012

"Offensive weapon"?

So the naked guy on the equestrian statue in London's business district had his day in court. (NSFW images at HuffPo, if you'd like to see them.) I kind of enjoyed the spectacle he provided. Even in still photos, it's evident that this was performance art. And I find it funny that one person without clothes can result in such a ruckus. The story about the court scene revealed an odd fact.
"Motrescu, a Ukrainian citizen of no fixed address, was convicted Tuesday of possession of an offensive weapon, criminal damage and a public order offense. A magistrate at Westminster Magistrates' Court sentenced him to 12 weeks in jail."
One wonders what "offensive weapon" a naked man can wield. I'm hoping they found a pen-knife in his travel bag, or something. Otherwise, this is an exceedingly strange charge. Perhaps they're just overreaching; he's said to have pulled a piece of a sword off a statue and then bit it. (I can't imagine what that means.) Is that the "offensive weapon"? Weird.