By Ryan Pilon

Arrest in Prince Albert over machete

Dec 21, 2010 | 1:44 PM

Prince Albert police arrested a 24-year-old man for carrying a large machete in his sleeve.

Kristopher Billette was found with the weapon by police Dec. 18 at 2:13 a.m. in the area of Third Avenue and 23rd Street East.

He was disarmed and arrested and has since been released on an undertaking.

“Finding a machete isn’t the most common thing, but as you well know, we’ve had issues with this type of large knife before,” said Sgt. Kelly McLean, media relations for the Prince Albert Police Service.

McLean is speaking of the youth who attacked a Prince Albert cab driver with a 23-inch machete back in April of this year. The youth, now 15 years of age, is set to be sentenced on Dec. 23.

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Despite a machete being involved in both instances, McLean said these are two completely different cases.

“That was carried out by a 14-year-old kid. This is a 24-year-old man walking the streets of the city with a concealed machete. I think there’s a huge difference there. I think that the courts realize that too, in treating the 14-year-old much different than they would a 24-year-old man,” said McLean.

Surprisingly, while a machete is a dangerous weapon, it isn’t very difficult to purchase.

“I don’t think it’s difficult to pick up a large knife. There’s no registration for them,” said McLean.
Billette will make his next court appearance in January.

rpilon@panow.com