A pedophile consumed a poisoned chocolate bar in a courtroom after he was found guilty of child sex crimes, according to reports.
The man, said to be in his mid-70s and cannot be named for legal reasons, was convicted of four “serious” child sex crimes involving his partner’s daughter.
The Canberra Times reported:
“In an opening address, prosecutor Fiona Martin said it was alleged the offending took place between 1991 and 2000 while the girl was aged between four and 14 years old.”
The man from the Australian city of Portland was in Warrnambool County Court in the state of Victoria for the trial when he took out a Snickers chocolate bar from his pocket.
The pedophile then began eating the poisoned chocolate bar frantically, at which point a bailiff told the man that eating is prohibited in court, and the man continued, The Daily Mail reported.
“He then told the custody staff he had poisoned himself as he had laced the chocolate bar with rat poison,” Warrnambool Standard crime reporter Andrew Thomson wrote.
According to Daily Mail, the a “remained in custody despite his declaration and later collapsed in the Warrnambool police station cells, breaking his finger.
He was later rushed to Warrnambool Base Hospital, where he was treated for poisoning.
The man is reportedly in an intensive care unit but will return to jail when his condition improves.
The convicted pedophile will return to court on Sept. 11, facing a preliminary sentence hearing.
Last August, a similar incident occurred when a man on trial in Texas died after drinking from a large water bottle containing a cloudy liquid as a jury found him guilty of child sexual assault, CBS reported.
“Edward Leclair, 57, was on trial in Denton, about 40 miles northwest of Dallas, on five counts involving one victim. The Tarrant County medical examiner’s office doesn’t yet list his cause or manner of death. Leclair had been released on bond following his arrest.
Prosecutor Jamie Beck told the Denton Record-Chronicle that Leclair didn’t drink from the water bottle until the verdict was read, then he “just chugged it.”
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