Man 'lucky to be alive' after trying to use stun gun as a shaver

A man who claimed he mistakenly bought a stun gun believing it to be a shaver has pleaded guilty to possession of a weapon.

Mohammed Khan, 26, said he had “no idea” of the device’s true nature, which he said he bought from a stranger at the back of a takeaway in Bolton, Greater Manchester.

Khan is said to be “lucky to be alive” after he plugged the stun gun in and “tried to shave” with it, Bolton Crown Court heard.

The device was seized after a raid on Khan's home and was later revealed to be a stun gun by forensic investigators.

The weapon was discovered on 1 May last year when Greater Manchester Police’s Tactical Aid Unit found what appeared to be a “Taser and charger in a bedroom drawer”.

Khan said he was “approached by a stranger” at the “back of a takeaway”, who “sold him a box with an electric shaver and charger”.

When Khan returned to his home on Roland Road in Deane, Bolton, he claims he used it to remove bodily hair.

Eleanor Gleeson, prosecuting, said: “Mr Khan says the device did not charge up, so he put the device in a drawer and forgot all about it.

“He says that he did not realise the prongs were part of a stun gun as he had never seen one before and that if he had known the device was a stun gun he would have acted differently.”

Stun guns similar to Khan’s device contain a voltage range of one to 25 kilovolts, according to police inquiries, though it is not known exactly how many volts Khan’s specific gun could administer.

Police said he was “lucky to be alive, because forensics proved the device did charge correctly to be a viable device”.

Stuart Neale, mitigating, said Khan believed the stun gun to be nothing more than a “piece of plastic”.

Khan had also recently suffered a stroke and is receiving “round-the-clock care”, and has no money or family support, his barrister added

Judge Martin Walsh agreed that Khan was “unfit to undertake any unpaid work and is of no financial means at the moment”.

On Tuesday, he sentenced Khan to a two-year conditional discharge.

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