Victim impact statements were tendered to the court as part of Hart’s sentencing, with one woman detailing how she thought she was going to die after she launched into a coughing fit while queuing at the registers with her 15-year-old daughter.
“I struggled to take a breath, I was coughing uncontrollably,” she said.
“I thought I was going to die. I was frantic, I didn’t know what was happening to me, I couldn’t help my daughter.”
The woman said it was “traumatising” being forced to take a decontamination shower, and her daughter said she was now living in a constant state of paranoia.
“I live in a state of hypervigilance,” she said.
“This experience has changed me. It has stolen my peace, and I am grappling with the fear and humiliation.”
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The court was told that, while awaiting the outcome of this matter, Hart was sentenced to a further term of imprisonment for making false statements against an ex-partner, a custody officer and a prosecutor.
The court was also told he had outstanding arrest warrants in both Queensland and South Australia.
Hart, who had been drinking on the day of the incident, told police he remembered little about the afternoon, and Zempilas said she found he had “no plausible reason to take the Satan’s Spit with [him] that day”.
Hart said he was struggling with a relationship breakdown and separation from his three young children and wanted to “lighten the mood” by letting off a brand of fart spray known as “Liquid Arse” into the crowd.
Zempilas described the decision as reckless.
“You intended to, and you did annoy others, and you also caused harm. While the spray was not directed into the faces or eyes, it nonetheless resulted in harm … not just in that moment, it has endured in other way,” she said.
Hart was sentenced to 16 months in prison, backdated to January when he was taken into custody.
He will be eligible for parole later this year.