Man threw brick at car believing ‘SAS were inside’

A Penarth man experiencing a psychotic episode wandered the streets armed with knives in the early hours before attacking a neighbour’s car, believing military personnel were inside.

Kasim Gehlan was seen banging on doors and talking to himself on St Paul’s Avenue at around 3.30am on 2nd October last year. When he approached a dog walker, the 28-year-old told him “the military are after me”, leaving the witness convinced he was under the influence of something.

Shortly afterwards, Gehlan – who was carrying two knives – punched a BMW before picking up a brick and hurling it through the vehicle’s rear window. When the car’s owner, who was visiting his girlfriend, confronted him, Gehlan explained he had done it because he “thought the SAS were in the vehicle”.

He was arrested later that day, and police seized a knife with a six-inch blade from his property. During interview, Gehlan claimed he suffered from blackouts and couldn’t remember anything between 10pm the previous night and his arrest.

The car owner told Cardiff Crown Court in an impact statement that he feared for his girlfriend’s safety and was worried the defendant “could do worse”. He described Gehlan as “unpredictable”.

Gehlan, of St Paul’s Avenue, Penarth, pleaded guilty to criminal damage and possession of a bladed article. He has four previous convictions for seven offences, including two for unlawful wounding, knife possession, and cocaine possession. At the time of the incident, he was subject to a 22-month suspended sentence for wounding imposed in 2024.

His barrister, Sol Hartley, said Gehlan was “disappointed” the pre-sentence report concluded he wasn’t suitable for a mental health treatment requirement. After spending almost four months on remand, his client now realises that failing to take his mental health medication can have serious consequences.

The defence added that the confiscated knife wasn’t one of those carried in the street, but rather a butcher’s knife engraved by his brother as a tribute to their butcher father – an item of great sentimental value.

Judge Lucy Crowther said the psychiatric report showed Gehlan had been experiencing a “psychotic episode” that night, and urged him to look after his mental health by taking prescribed medication. She described his behaviour on the Penarth street as “peculiar, eccentric, concerning and bizarre”.

With a one-third discount for his guilty pleas, Gehlan received six months in prison. The judge also activated four months from his suspended sentence to run consecutively, resulting in a total 10-month sentence. He was made subject to a 15-month restraining order banning contact with the BMW owner, and the butcher’s knife was ordered to be confiscated.