A man will not spend more time in jail after his “bizarre” act of publicly urinating on packaged meat in a city-centre Woolworths.
Lachlan Ebejer, also known as Lochlan James Ebejer, stood next to customers at the supermarket’s Sydney Town Hall branch on July 1 when he contaminated the raw meat for 28 seconds.
The 22-year-old was already known to Woolworths staff after he copped a six-month ban from stores nationwide for shoplifting at Toongabbie, in Sydney’s west, about two weeks earlier.
Ebejer had a long history of symptoms of schizophrenia which had been wrongly thought to have come from his substance-abuse disorder, according to a report by a forensic psychiatrist filed with Sydney’s Downing Centre Local Court.
Judge Michael Allen today imposed a conviction and a 12-month community corrections order for the public urination.
While normally such an act should warrant stern condemnation, that was not appropriate in this case because of Ebejer’s long history of mental illness, he said.
“It is my view that his chronic schizophrenic illness, his bizarre behaviour at that time … cannot be divorced from consideration of the seriousness of the offending,” the judge said.
A second charge of trespassing was dealt with without further conviction or penalty.
Ebejer is currently serving a sentence over unrelated charges and will be released on parole from jail for those offences on December 17, the court heard.
The 22-year-old wore prison greens as he watched by audio-visual link from Shortland Correctional Centre but spoke little during the hearing.
Legal Aid lawyer Liam McKibbin said Ebejer had been given a high dosage of anti-psychotics to treat his schizophrenia and would soon start medication to deal with his cannabis abuse.
He also had support from two NDIS carers in the community, the solicitor said.
McKibbin successfully argued that no jail time should be imposed, saying the charge of contaminating goods to cause public alarm encompassed a wide range of conduct up to putting needles in strawberries.
While the police prosecutor tried to argue that full-time custody was the only type of sentence available, this was promptly shut down by Allen.
“What benefit would that bring to the community? How would that address community safety?” the judge asked.
Ebejer entered the city-centre store just before midnight on July 1 and threw a packet of chewy caramel Tim Tam biscuits from one aisle to another before proceeding downstairs for the urination, according to court documents.
After security were alerted, Woolworths staff were forced to cordon off the area, removing the meat and spending eight hours cleaning and disinfecting.
Ebejer immediately left the store but was located by police after images and CCTV footage were publicly released.
The Sadleir man pleaded guilty to one count of contaminating goods with intent to cause public alarm and also to unlawful entry on inclosed lands.
A third count of offensive conduct while on inclosed land was withdrawn.
