A mine site chef and father of three who sprayed a hot chilli concoction dubbed “Satan’s Spit” into a crowd of shoppers at a Bunnings east of Perth has been jailed over the incident.
Paul Andrew Hart, 52, admitted to taking the chilli spray to the Northam Bunnings store when he attended with a friend and his son on the Anzac Day public holiday last year.
Hart later told police he wanted to let off “fart spray” as a joke, but mistakenly picked up Satan’s Spit instead, which caused burning eyes, noses and sore throats to 15 people, 11 of whom required hospital treatment. Two were children.
Satan’s Spit is used on food and comes with an extreme heat warning. The manufacturer describes it as: “One of our hottest (and more dangerous) products, please handle with care!
“Spray with caution as it can travel through the air and get in eyes. You’ve been warned.”
The court was told that, at the time of the incident, shoppers were unaware of what they had been sprayed with, and were made to strip outside hospital and forced to take decontamination showers.
The Bunnings outlet closed its doors for the day, causing a loss of $16,000 in income, and the company paid thousands of dollars to eight affected employees in workers’ compensation claims.
Victims were forced to pay thousands for ambulances to the nearby hospital.
Hart was sentenced over the prank on Tuesday, with Perth District Court Judge Felicity Zempilas telling him she did not accept the claim he thought he had innocuous fart spray in his pocket and not Satan’s Spit as he was seen on CCTV repeatedly looking at the product.
Victim impact statements were tendered to the court as part of Hart’s sentencing, with one woman detailing how she thought she was going to die after she launched into a coughing fit while queuing at the registers with her 15-year-old daughter.
“I struggled to take a breath – I was coughing uncontrollably,” she said.
“I thought I was going to die. I was frantic. I didn’t know what was happening to me. I couldn’t help my daughter.”
The woman said it was “traumatising” being forced to take a decontamination shower, and her daughter said she was now living in a constant state of paranoia.
“I live in a state of hypervigilance,” she said.
“This experience has changed me. It has stolen my peace, and I am grappling with the fear and humiliation.”
The court was told that, while awaiting the outcome of this matter, Hart was sentenced to a further term of imprisonment for making false statements against an ex-partner, a custody officer and a prosecutor.
The court was also told he had outstanding arrest warrants in both Queensland and South Australia.
Hart, who had been drinking on the day of the incident, told police he remembered little about the afternoon, and Zempilas said she found he had “no plausible reason to take the Satan’s Spit with [him] that day”.
Hart said he was struggling with a relationship breakdown and separation from his three young children and wanted to “lighten the mood” by letting off a brand of fart spray known as “Liquid Ass” into the crowd.
Zempilas described the decision as reckless.
“You intended to, and you did annoy others, and you also caused harm. While the spray was not directed into the faces or eyes, it nonetheless resulted in harm … not just in that moment ... it has endured in other ways,” she said.
Hart was sentenced to 16 months in prison, backdated to January when he was taken into custody.
He will be eligible for parole this year.
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