A man who was found with a card knife in his wallet at the State Courts earlier this year was jailed for three months yesterday.

Hairulnizam Hanafi, 30, who works in a hotel, was originally charged with a more serious offence under the Corrosive and Explosive Substances and Offensive Weapons Act.

He pleaded guilty to an amended charge of unlawful possession of an offensive weapon - a card knife with a 7cm-long blade - at Havelock Square on March 10.

The offence under the Miscellaneous Offences (Public Order and Nuisance) Act carries a penalty of up to two years' imprisonment.

A district court heard that Hairulnizam had accompanied his father, who had a court mention, to the State Courts that morning.

He placed his wallet in a basket for security clearance near the entrance of the State Courts. A Certis Cisco officer saw a sharp object inside the wallet when it went through the X-ray machine.

In mitigation, Hairulnizam said he had bought the item from a shop.

The father of two has previous convictions for drug-related offences, theft, using criminal force on a public servant and having a scheduled weapon.

When District Judge Luke Tan said he presumed that the issue about the shop selling an item like the card knife has or will be investigated, Assistant Public Prosecutor Puvaneswari Sandirasekaran replied that it would.

Addressing Hairulnizam, Judge Tan said: "Whatever it is, this doesn't look like a safe thing to carry around...''