Pants robbery accused admits owning gun

AN IT worker accused of holding up two campers with a gun admitted owning a weapon but claimed he had never taken it out of the house, a court heard.

Karim Bourouba is alleged to have pointed a gun at Liam Harrison, 20, and demanded his girlfriend remove and hand over her underpants.

It is claimed Bourouba, 29, then sniffed the pants before throwing them away, at Calton Hill in Edinburgh in May 2008.

Bourouba, of William Street, Edinburgh, is on trial at Edinburgh Sheriff Court, where he denies assault, robbery, breach of the peace and firearms offences.

Mr Harrison and his girlfriend claim Bourouba approached them in their tent on Calton Hill, pulled out a gun and robbed them of the pants before walking with Mr Harrison to buy cigarettes.

In a video of an interview with police, which was shown to the jury yesterday, Bourouba admitted buying an imitation gun over the internet two weeks earlier.

But he denied ever taking the gun out of the house.

The trial continues.