A solicitor injected food products at Tesco, Sainsbury’s, and Waitrose with syringes filled with his own blood in a rampage that caused nearly £500,000 of damage, a court has heard.
Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, had a bucket full of syringes as he walked down a stretch of Fulham Palace Road in Fulham and entered the three supermarkets to contaminate the food products, it is said.
Isleworth Crown Court heard Elghareeb injected blood into apples and a packet of chicken tikka fillets at Waitrose, forcing staff to shutdown the store as a safety precaution.
It is said he contaminated packets of meat and ready meals in the nearby Sainsbury’s Local, where he is accused of pelting staff and customers with eggs as well as assaulting a security guard.
Elghareeb, who is a qualified solicitor and the director of Opus Legal Contractors, allegedly injected more food in a Tesco Express and threw a plant pot at a waiter before he was arrested by police, it is said.
Opening the case on Monday, prosecutor Philip Stott said Elghareeb is accused of syringes in the street at passersby as he started his actions, on August 25 last year, striking Dr Meghana Kulkarni in the chest with one in an alleged assault.
“In the early evening of a late summer’s day last year, Mr Elghareeb walked down the Fulham Palace Road in west London carrying a bucket. It was filled with syringes, some of which had hypodermic needles attached”, he said.
“A number of those syringe were filled with blood – his own.
“Mr Elghareeb then entered, in turn, three supermarkets on the Fulham Palace Road. In order, they were Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Tesco. He proceeded to stick those syringes in food products inside the branches of those supermarkets.
“Along the way her threw some of the syringes at people inside and outside the store including hitting a passerby on the street.
“As he was confronted, because of his actions, by a succession of store personnel inside the supermarkets he assaulted one of them by pushing him, in addition to throwing verbal insults at those around him.”
Mr Stott told jurors Elghareeb is accused of assaulting Dr Kulkarni before he reached the supermarkets.
“The defendant was staring at Dr Kulkarni as he approached, she felt uncomfortable as he seemed aggressive”, said the prosecutor.
“She moved out into the road and passed him walking along the road as he walked on the pavement.
“As the defendant passed her, he threw a syringe at her, hitting her in the chest. Fortunately the syringe had no needle attached to it, and it just bounced off her without causing injuries.”
Elghareeb is accused of first reaching the Little Waitrose which is just a short walk from his £600,000 home, and was alleged caught CCTV walking down the aisles throwing syringes and injecting food on the shelves.
The court heard syringes were later found on the floor and some were still embedded in food packets.
“Once staff inside the store realised what had happened, they told everyone inside to drop their shopping and leave, and then closed the store”, said the prosecutor.
“At Sainsbury’s, Mr Elghareeb pushed Bilal Ansari in the chest as he was confronted by members of staff. Mr Ansari will tell you that the defendant was shouting things like ‘you are all vile people and Sainsbury’s is vile’.
“He was also swearing at the staff and at customers and throwing eggs, before then leaving.”
Elghareeb, wearing a black US sports jersey, was caught on CCTV cameras as he allegedly carried out the acts, carrying on to the Tesco Express where he is accused of throwing more syringes and contaminating food.
He also “threw a plant pot through the door of the Avanti restaurant on Fulham Palace Road, narrowly missing a waiter”, said Mr Stott, and was ultimately arrested outside The Distillers pub in Hammersmith.
Jurors heard a total of 21 syringes were recovered, and the bill ran to £467,000 after the supermarkets carried out deep cleans and threw away contaminated food.
The incident cost Waitrose £207,000, Sainsbury’s had a £143,000 bill, and it set Tesco back £117,000.
The prosecutor said Elghareeb is not likely to dispute that he was the man with the bucket of syringes, and will offer “no contest” to the factual allegations.
“The defence that is likely to be placed before you is that Mr Elghareeb was, in the legal sense, insane at the time of those acts,” he said.
“That is to say, the defence will call to give evidence before you psychiatric experts who have examined the defendant and have concluded that, whilst the defendant is fit to stand trial now, at the time of these events, he was suffering from a disease of the mind so as not to know the nature and quality of the acts he was doing was wrong.”
Elghareebhas pleaded not guilty to three charges of contaminating food and two charges of assault by beating.
The trial continues.
