Station worker ‘spiked supervisor’s coffee with cleaning fluid amid ongoing feud’
She made the 'opportunistic decision' after seeing her supervisor's flask in the staff room, the court heard.
A station worker spiked her supervisor’s coffee with cleaning detergent during a long-running feud, a court had heard.
Aurora Iacomi, 31, is accused of pouring the liquid into Angelina Raychinova’s flask in the staff room of Fenchurch Street Railway Station, in London, on April 22. Ms Raychinova spat the drink out after noticing a ‘burning sensation’ when she took a sip, Westminster Magistrates’ Court was told.
Antony Lane, defending Iacomi, said: ‘This was an ongoing disagreement between her and her supervisor.
‘When she went into the staff room she saw the complainant with a flask of coffee. It was an opportunistic decision to pour something in. The intention was to ruin her coffee, nothing more.
‘The substances haven’t yet been fully examined to reveal their strength. The complainant described no injuries apart from an initial burning sensation before expelling it from her mouth.’
Iacomi, from Romania, has indicated she will admit a charge of administering poison or a noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.
Mr Lane told the court she had moved to the UK in 2016, and had been working ever since. He continued: ‘The quantity used was to annoy rather than seriously harm. They were cleaning substances.’
Jonathan Bryan, prosecuting, told the court that evidence suggested Iacomi ‘has animosity’ towards Ms Raychinova.
The exact cleaning substances put into the coffee have not yet been established, District Judge Angus Hamilton said. He stated that putting bleach in a drink would be ‘particularly heinous’.
He continued: ‘‘If it was bleach that would have most likely resulted in the person drinking it dying or being seriously injured.
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‘The fact the complainant wasn’t injured seems more a consequence of her actions than the defendant. She was able to taste straight away that something wasn’t right and spit it back out.
‘I’m slightly struggling because I don’t know what the poison is or what the consequence of drinking it would have been. We need to establish what it is.
‘This is obviously a very serious matter and it will almost inevitably lead to a custodial sentence.’
Iacomi, of Loxford Lane, Ilford, faces one charge of administering poison or a noxious substance with intent to injure, aggrieve or annoy.
She was remanded into custody and will appear at Inner London Crown Court on May 22.
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