Bathurst court: Man convicted for throwing hot chips at takeaway staff

Colin Brian Staines, 48, of Hill Street in Orange, appeared in person and unrepresented in Bathurst Local Court before visiting magistrate Brian Van Zuylen on Monday.

He was charged over an incident in a Bathurst takeaway shop where he allegedly threw hot chips at an employee because he was unhappy with the size of the serving.

Reading over the police facts, magistrate Van Zuylen asked Staines: "Why did you do this?"

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Staines conceded it was "totally silly", adding he was frustrated with five children in the car. He said he had undergone two major neck surgeries and hadn't taken any painkillers.

"It was silly on my behalf ... I didn't mean to intimidate or hurt anyone," he said.

Mr Van Zuylen said in his time as a magistrate he had seen situations like this escalate into a brawl.

"What example are you setting for your children?" he said.

When Staines told Mr Van Zuylen he was not working at the time of the incident, the magistrate replied that his victim had been working and was "just trying to make a living".

Reading out the police facts, Mr Van Zuylen noted the accused returned to the takeaway saying "you call this $10 worth of chips" before throwing the chips at the victim.

When the accused said he hadn't thrown the chips, Mr Van Zuylen noted he had pleaded guilty to the charge.

"You assaulted her and your behaviour is disgraceful," he said. "Would you want people behaving like that at your work?"

Police facts tendered to the court told how on January 21, the accused entered Gazza's Takeaway where his wife ordered $10 worth of hot chips.

A short time later the female returned and collected the chips, with the accused then returning to the takeaway.

He said to one of the staff, "do you call this $10 of chips?" and she replied, "yeah - that's a basket of chips".

The accused raised his right hand and threw the chips at the victim. The chips hit her leg and chicken salt covered the floor and the deep fryer. The accused's actions left the staff startled and frightened.

On March 3, police spoke with Staines. He made full admissions saying he didn't believe the chips were worth $10. He said he walked back in the store and said "[expletive] keep them", before throwing the chips over the counter.

Staines was convicted, given a 12-month conditional release order and told not to enter Gazza's Takeaway for 12 months.