Perth woman charged over alleged contamination of colleague's curry with snail bait

Police in Western Australia have charged a woman after investigators say she contaminated a colleague’s lunchtime curry with snail bait. The Sydney Morning Herald reported the charge and local outlets including Nine reproduced detailed police allegations describing how the incident unfolded at a Perth workplace.

According to police accounts published by Nine, the 58-year-old woman brought a container of curry to work on February 12 to share; some of that meal was consumed at morning tea with no immediate problem. The reporting says leftover curry remained in the staff lunchroom until lunchtime, when the victim returned and noticed bright green granules mixed through the dish.

Police allege the accused, a 43-year-old woman, had earlier entered a chemical storage shed before coming into the lunchroom, and that the victim tasted a small amount of the curry, experienced numbness on her tongue and realised something was wrong.

WA Police Commissioner Col Blanch is quoted in the Nine report saying investigators were grateful the person who tasted the curry recognised early adverse effects. The Nine piece identifies the relationship between the two women as a factor in police allegations, reporting that police say the charged woman and the victim were in a relationship.

The Sydney Morning Herald’s brief account confirms a charge was laid and states the matter is now progressing through the criminal justice system; the SMH article gives the charge and the criminal process as the central fact without detailing the operative allegations that Nine published.

Nine reports the arrest took place in Golden Bay on October 8 and that the accused is due to appear in Armadale Magistrates Court on November 5. The charges themselves, the precise offence names and whether the accused has entered a plea are not provided in the available reporting.

Neither the SMH excerpt nor Nine supplies independent forensic test results linking the bright green granules to a specific pesticide product or confirming toxicology for the victim; the accounts rely on police statements about observed granules and the victim’s immediate symptoms.

Media outlets that have run leads or headlines corroborate that a charge was filed but differ in how much operational detail they publish: Nine provides the sequence police allege, while the SMH item focuses on the fact of the charge and entry of the case into the justice system.

At this stage, public reporting documents the alleged timeline (the victim bringing curry on February 12, morning tea consumption, later discovery of granules at lunchtime) and the arrest and court dates in October and November reported by Nine.

The reporting does not include courtroom filings, a formal police statement of the exact charge wording, laboratory confirmations of the substance, or statements from the accused; those records would be necessary to confirm the precise nature of the contaminant and any intent.

The criminal process named in the Sydney Morning Herald means the allegations will now be tested in court at Armadale Magistrates Court as scheduled; further public records from the court or police will be required to establish the substance involved, the legal elements charged, and any eventual outcome.