A teenage Cambridge student has been jailed after he smuggled a gun into Britain and shot a BANANA.
Dimitry Palikhata, 19, blasted the fruit to ‘show off’ to pals at shared accommodation at his language school in July this year.
Firearms cops arrived at student flats and found Palikhata with the revolver stashed down his trousers and 27 rounds of live ammunition.
When quizzed by cops the Russian student replied ”banana skin is hard to make a hole in, unlike human skin”.
He was jailed for three-and-a-half years at Cambridge Crown Court on Thursday after admitting possession of a prohibited firearm.
Judge Gareth Hawkesworth said: ”You are a privileged young man but your desire to show off and play the big guy put the lives of others at risk.”
Prosecutor Sara Walker told the court Palikhata smuggled the revolver into the country from Russia.
Two security guards were called to the Tripos Court block at Bell Language School at 1.30am on July 21 after hearing gunshots, she added.
Ms Walker said: ”The defendant took a banana out of the fruit bowl and fired at it and made a hole in it.
”He said ‘banana skin is hard to make a hole in, unlike human skin’.”
Palikhata initially claimed he found the gun on a bench in Cambridge after he bought cannabis from a drug dealer.
Later he admitted smuggling the gun from Russia where he and used it to blast vodka bottles in his local forest.
Orlando Pownall, defending, said: ”His purpose in bringing it to this country was to show off.
”He is immature. He was a drunk, vulnerable young individual abroad and he was showing off.”
Palikhata will be deported back to Russia after serving his sentence.