Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Spiked drink blamed for inside-out, back-to-front football shorts frenzy

An Australian man who terrorised shopkeepers dressed only in inside-out, back-to-front football shorts told a court he thought someone must have put drugs in his drink.

Trawler fisherman Philip Andrew Gilmore, 35, told Cairns acting magistrate Kerry McFadden last week he could not remember anything of his bizarre behaviour on Reservoir Rd, Manoora, about 1pm on October 29. "I was totally embarrassed when I found out … I must have been on Rohypnol or something," Gilmore said.

The court heard Gilmore intimidated and threatened the lone staff member at the Hungry Possum pizza shop then walked up the street to the Funk Hair salon, where the two women inside were so frightened they locked the door.

As Gilmore continued to terrorise the strip of shops, yelling and swearing abuse at people walking past, he was seen to be in a highly agitated state and scratching deep gouges out of his skin, Ms Woodward said.

Duty solicitor James Barnes said his client had been to a mate’s house for a drink and remembers leaving there, but nothing more. "My client’s fearful that there was a substance in his drink … harassing strangers isn’t his style," Mr Barnes said.

Gilmore was fined $1200 for two counts of public nuisance with the other offence occurring as he was leaving Covergirls nightclub in Lake St and got into a fight with another man in the early hours of October 25.

No comments: