‘Strange’ charge over $6.99 roast chook chucked in supermarket spat

A woman who chucked a $6.99 roast chicken at another customer after an argument at Costco has pleaded guilty to wilfully damaging property.

But she has not been charged with assault.

Cynthia Fenech, 40, got into an argument with two men at a checkout at Costco in Epping on Christmas Eve last year.

The Melbourne Drug Court heard she pulled a rotisserie chicken out of the men’s trolley and threw it at them, hitting one man in the torso.

The chicken then fell to the floor “destroyed”.

Magistrate Suzie Cameron queried the “willfully injury property” charge and noted no assault charged had been laid by the customer.

Partner with Henderson and Ball lawyers, Justin Lawrence, explained the charge.

“The willfully injured property bit is where you destroy or damage or pollute … property belonging to another person, and the value of the damage is less than $5000, you can actually be charged with that offence and believe it or not you can go to jail for up to six months,” he told Ross and Russel.

“Costco probably sells 7.8 million chickens every day so it’s strange that it got to that point.

“I suspect what happened is someone got a bit aggro after the fight and said ‘That’s it, I’m calling the police’. The police have tuned up and said ‘Look there’s nothing to see here but I can see that there’s chicken remnants all over the floor but you’ve damaged $7.99 or whatever it is of Costco property, that’s an offence and you’re going to be charged’.”

Fenech was also wanted for a subsequent offence – a chemist burglary in January.

She was remanded and will next face the drug court on April 26.

Press PLAY below to hear a lawyer explain the charge