Monday, May 19, 2008

Bizarre UK crime of the day: man uses "squeezy bottle" to spray urine on produce and children's books


Irate customer? BBC:

A man has been remanded in custody charged with spraying urine at two supermarkets, a pub and a book shop.

Sahnoun Daifallah, 42, of Bibury Road, from Gloucester, appeared before magistrates and pleaded not guilty to four charges of contaminating products.

He was arrested on Friday after a substance, believed to be urine, was sprayed over produce at Tesco in Quedgeley and Morrisons at Abbeydale.

The case has been adjourned to 28 May for committal proceedings.

In court prosecutor Liz Thomas said two days earlier Mr Daifallah used an improvised device to shower hundreds of children's books at Waterstones in Cirencester.

He is also charged with releasing the liquid over food in the Air Balloon pub, near Cheltenham.

Ms Thomas said the total damage came to £10,000, although the eventual bill for cleaning up the supermarkets and replacing the food would come to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

She said a "squeezy sports bottle" had been used to propel the liquid into a freezer of chips, and later over a wine rack at Tesco in Quedgeley and Morrisons in Glevum Way.

After going into the toilets at Waterstones in Cricklade Street, Cirencester, Mr Daifallah is alleged to have ruined 706 books, many of them in the children's section, with a "very smelly, brown, unpleasant substance".

Previously that day he was said to have released the liquid in the Air Balloon at Birdlip after making offensive comments to a barmaid.

Preliminary tests by Tesco have shown the fluid to be a mix of urine, faeces and domestic products, the court heard.
The man must be deranged. But I have to wonder if he has a religious affiliation. (Photo courtesy BBC)