A wife removed a sword from the scene where her husband brandished it during an affray and offered police a toy plastic one instead when they asked to see it, Burnley Crown Court was told.
Nazreem Bukhari (34), of Walton Lane, Nelson, was given a 12-month conditional discharge after pleading guilty to obstructing a police officer in the execution of his duty.
She was also ordered to pay £200 towards the cost of the hearing, and a statutory surcharge.
Allegations of having the sword in Walton Lane, Nelson, on July 20th and attempting to pervert the cause of justice by taking evidence away from the scene were not pursued by the Crown.
Mr Mark Storrie (prosecuting) said Mrs Bukhari was present at a violent confrontation between her taxi driver husband, Mohammed Bukhari, and another taxi driver.
The affray in Walton Lane was observed by a number of people nearby.
Mr Storrie said Mr Bukhari seized the sword and took it to the confrontation.
Mrs Bukhari took it from him and was seen to put it in the boot of a car. She told by-stander Pamela Black: “Stay out of it. There was no knife. Don’t tell them anything.”
Police traced Mrs Bukhari to her home address and asked about the sword while standing on the doorstep. She said she had only been out for a bottle of milk.
When police searched the car they found a scabbard in the boot. She then produced a toy plastic sword from inside the house, saying: “This is all it was.”
Mr Ahmed Nadim (defending) said: “She appears before this court as a result of a gross error of judgement by her husband”.
He added what had happened had been completely out of character, and she was unlikely to trouble the courts in future.
Mr Bukhari was remanded on bail until February 3rd for a further hearing and pre-sentence reports.
