An ‘insane’ lawyer injected food with his blood at a series of supermarkets in West London in a £500,000 rampage, a court heard.
Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, wandered into high street stores carrying a bucketful of hypodermic needles as he jabbed at products including Chicken Tikka on Fulham Palace Road, Hammersmith, between 7pm and 8pm on August 25 last year, it was said.
The solicitor also threw a syringe at a doctor but it fortunately bounced off her harmlessly, causing no injuries, jurors heard.
The three supermarkets – Sainsbury’s Local, Tesco Express and Little Waitrose – had to throw away all their products as a precaution, causing nearly £500,000 in losses, Isleworth Crown Court heard.
Police were alerted at around 7.40pm after a man was reported to be throwing blood-filled syringes and eggs in the three supermarkets.
Prosecutor Philip Stott said: ‘Mr Elghareeb is accused of doing two types of things: firstly contaminating goods, and secondly assaulting two people, a Bilal Ansari and a Dr Meghana Kulkarni.
‘In short what happened is this: 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.
‘A number of those syringes 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 – and he proceeded to stick those syringes in food products inside those branches of those supermarkets.
‘Along the way he also 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.’
‘Insane’ lawyer Leoaai Elghareeb, 37, injected food with his blood at a series of supermarkets in a £500,000 rampage, a court heard
Elghareeb could be seen in CCTV footage wearing trainers, black shorts and a black American sports-style T-shirt, carrying a bucket apparently full of syringes.
As he walked down Fulham Palace Road he stared at Dr Kulkarni, causing her to feel ‘uncomfortable as he seemed aggressive’, said Ms Stott.
As she passed him in the street, he threw a syringe at her which hit her in the chest.
‘Fortunately the syringe had no needle attached to it, and it just bounced off her without causing any injuries,’ Mr Stott said.
Dr Kulkarni started speaking to other people on the street who were picking up syringes off the floor.
Dr Kulkarni said in a statement read to the court: ‘I thought the suspect might have been on a pub crawl because he was in possession of the bucket and because he appeared to be swaying around a bit.’
She was walking along Crabtree Lane, Fulham, when she saw Elghareeb – who she referred to as ‘suspect’ – staring at her.
She said: ‘The suspect was staring at me and I thought at first he was checking me out because of the way he was staring at me.’
Elghareeb was walking in ‘quite an aggressive’ manner, she added, continuing: ‘As the suspect passed me he threw something at my chest.’
The item, which she soon realised to be a syringe, hit her in the collarbone but it did not cause any injuries.
She said: ‘As I looked down at this item I realised it was an empty small plastic syringe.
‘I did not touch the syringe and left it where it had fallen in the road near a parked car.
‘At no point during our interaction did the suspect say anything to me and I didn’t say anything to him.’
She approached a group of people outside a convenience store and asked: ‘Did he do anything to you?’
They replied: ‘Yes, he has been throwing needles and syringes all along this road.’
She phoned the police to report the incident.
He then entered Little Waitrose on Fulham Palace Road and began to jab food products including apples and Chicken Tikka Fillets with syringes.
The court was shown CCTV footage of Elghareeb casually walking around the shop for about two minutes, jabbing foods and throwing syringes.
The three supermarkets – Sainsbury’s Local, Tesco Express and Little Waitrose (pictured) – had to throw away all their products as a precaution, causing nearly £500,000 in losses, Isleworth Crown Court heard
Police were alerted at around 7.40pm after a man was reported to be throwing blood-filled syringes and eggs in the three supermarkets. Above: The Sainsburys Local outlet
In Tesco Express – the third supermarket – Elghareeb threw syringes and stuck them in food, forcing the staff to close the store immediately
When staff were alerted, they asked all customers to drop their shopping and evacuate the store.
George Bruce, duty manager of the Little Waitrose outlet, said: ‘I was helping my colleagues at checkouts when I noticed a male throwing something at mine and my colleague’s direction.
‘I recognised the male as someone who was in the store the previous week.
‘He was previously exchanging conversations with food products and smelling plastic packaging.
‘This time he looked very tired and had bags under his eyes.
‘My manager then told everyone to drop their shopping and leave the store.’
A security guard at Sainsbury’s, Bilal Ansari, said he saw a man enter the store and ‘throw an egg at the tills’.
‘He then turned around and threw an egg at me,’ said Mr Ansari. ‘He said the “f word” and shouted and screamed ‘don’t touch me’.’
He then got ‘really angry’ and squared up to the male while ‘swearing at him’, causing Elghareeb to assault him.
He continued that Elghareeb then turned to a female customer and said: ‘Why are you looking at me you fat b***h?
‘He then threw an egg at the female customer.
‘A female customer came up to me and presented me with a cooked chicken with a syringe in it.’
Elghareeb continued down the road to Sainsburys and began injecting food and throwing syringes once again.
He pushed security guard Mr Ansari in the chest while shouting things like: ‘You are all vile people and Sainsbury’s is vile.’
He engaged in similar behaviour in Tesco Express – the third supermarket – throwing syringes and sticking them in food, forcing the staff to close the store immediately.
Shortly before he was arrested, he walked past a Tapas bar called Avanti and threw a plant pot through the open door, narrowly missing a waiter.
Forensic teams are pictured inside the Tesco store shortly after the rampage
The man was alleged to have hit three supermarkets Tesco, Waitrose and Sainsbury’s
Meat seen in health hazard police bags outside Tesco after it was allegedly targeted
The three supermarkets found a total of 21 syringes during a thorough search and deep-clean before they were able to reopen.
He was arrested just before 8pm outside a pub called The Distillers.
He did not respond to any questions when he was later interviewed.
A black plastic syringe box was recovered from Fulham Palace Road by police officers.
Mr Stott said: ‘The stores also, inevitably, took the precaution of throwing away and destroying all their produce before reopening some days later.
‘All that cost, in respect of Waitrose, approximately £207,000, in respect of Sainsbury’s £143,000, and in respect of Tesco’s approximately £117,000. So nearly half a million pounds worth of loss to those three businesses.’
It is agreed that Elghareeb committed the offences, but the defence is likely to argue that ‘Mr Elghareeb was, in the legal sense, insane at the time of those acts’, said Mr Stott.
Elghareeb, of Crabtree Lane, Fulham, denies three counts of contaminating goods and two counts of assault.
He appeared at Isleworth Crown Court wearing a grey prison tracksuit and dark-rimmed glasses.
The trial continues.
