EKO HOT BLOG reports that a man, Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, was captured by a CCTV camera injecting syringes into apples, packets of chicken tikka fillets, and ready meals in three supermarkets.
In Sainsbury’s, he also threw eggs and swore at staff and customers, and he is accused of pushing a security guard in the chest and outside on the road threw an empty syringe at an NHS surgeon, jurors at Isleworth Crown Court were told.
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On 25 August last year, it was agreed by prosecution and defence that Elghareeb carried a black bucket of syringes – some of which had needles attached – and threw them at people outside and inside a Waitrose, Tesco and Sainsbury’s.
A total of 21 syringes were recovered following the incidents.
The stores were forced to take the precaution of throwing away and destroying all their produce, and restocking, before reopening days later.
This led to costs of £207,000 for Waitrose, £143,000 for Sainsbury’s and £117,000 for Tesco.
Elghareeb pleaded not guilty to three counts of contaminating food and two counts of assault by beating by reason of insanity.
Jurors are now set to decide whether Elghareeb was insane at the time of the incidents.
At a hearing, psychiatrist Dr Bradley Hillier said Elghareeb believed he had a device inserted into his brain and he hoped by behaving rashly would lead to being contacted by “the real police”.
Hillier said Elghareeb believed he was living in a “Truman Show” simulation where “everything was fake”, adding: “I don’t think he appreciated that he thought it was morally or legally wrong because he psychotically believed that he would get in touch with the real police who would help him to get this implant out of his brain.”
Kyri Argyropoulos, defending, also said that Elghareeb “was not of a fit and sane mind” at the time.
He told jurors: “This behaviour was bizarre. It was odd: the syringes, the eggs, the flowerpot.
“You may recall one of the witnesses shouted out, ‘are you ok?’ Face to face this wasn’t a situation of the danger of aggression, it was more concern.
“People saw this man, with bags under his eyes, crouching down at the roots of a tree on Fulham Palace Road and saw he was not ok.
“This was not the acts of someone who may feel is of a fit and sane mind.”
Jurors will continue their deliberations this week, where the case is expected to conclude.
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