Cook at Aroma cafe allegedly poisons co-worker

Suspect puts degreasing chemical on victim's salad after disput between the two, police say; man remanded to custody.

By BEN HARTMAN
Coffee cup 521 (photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
Coffee cup 521
(photo credit: Wikimedia Commons)
A cook at a branch of the Aroma national cafe chain poisoned a co-worker’s food, following a dispute between the two, Tel Aviv police reported on Thursday.
According to police, the 20- year-old cook sprayed a degreasing chemical on a salad that the co-worker took home at the end of her shift. After she got home and ate the salad she began to feel ill and checked into a hospital, where her stomach was pumped and she was discharged to her home.
On Wednesday, detectives from the Dan sub-district arrested the a cook, and on Thursday his remand was extended by the Tel Aviv District Court by five days. The man had originally been released on house arrest by the local magistrate’s court, until police appealed the decision to the district court.
Police said Thursday they believe the incident followed a dispute at work between the two employees, after which the man poisoned her food, an act that was reportedly caught on surveillance cameras in the restaurant’s kitchen. The man confessed to the crime to investigators, but denied that he had any dangerous intentions.
In a statement released on Thursday, Aroma Israel said, “This incident involved a personal dispute between two workers and the moment that our suspicion was raised, we contacted the police.”