A lawyer in the UK was captured on CCTV apparently injecting grocery store food with his own blood.
The shocking footage, which was presented to jurors at Isleworth Crown Court on Tuesday, Feb. 22, shows the 37-year-old defendant, Leoaai Elghareeb, apparently sticking syringes into apples, chicken tikka fillets and ready-to-eat meals at a Sainsbury’s supermarket.
The lawyer went on a rampage to Sainsbury’s, Waitrose and Tesco markets in Fulham, west London, injecting products with his blood.
Reacting to the incident that took place on Aug. 25, 2021, Elghareeb’s lawyer, Kyri Argyropoulos, told the jury during a court appearance: “This behaviour was bizarre.”
He added that Elghareeb “was not of a fit and sane mind” during the incidents.
Apart from injecting food with blood, Elghareeb also allegedly threw eggs at both staff and customers at Sainsbury’s and pushed a security guard in the chest.
Elghareeb was also accused of throwing an empty needle at a National Health Service surgeon outdoors, hitting her in the chest, the Independent reported.
He was finally detained outside a bar after allegedly picking up a potted plant and heaving it through the open doorway.
A total of 21 syringes were recovered from the bloody crime scenes.
Meanwhile, as a precaution, the impacted stores were forced to throw away and restock food before reopening, which resulted in haemorrhaging costs of about $281,442.38 (£207,000) for Waitrose, $194,426.37 (£143,000) for Sainsbury’s and $159,024.64 (£117,000) for Tesco.
At the hearing, a psychiatrist said Elghareeb felt as if he was living in a “Truman Show” simulation where “everything was fake”.
The doctor added that the man also believed he had a device implanted in his brain and hoped that his rash behaviour would alert “the real police” to his predicament.
Elghareeb’s attorney concluded that the defendant “was extremely unwell at the time, as you have heard from two consultant psychiatrists . . . This was not the acts of someone who may feel is of a fit and sane mind.”
Elghareeb has since pleaded not guilty to three counts of contaminating food and two counts of assault by reason of insanity.
