An Australian deli is being sued by a woman who found semen after allegedly drinking water from a bottled container, lawyers said on Friday, with claims that DNA showed it matched the owner of the business, the Agence France-Presse reported.
Alicia Cooper filed documents in the District Court of Western Australia seeking damages and medical expenses for the stress and depression suffered from drinking the water, according to media reports that were confirmed by Slater and Gordon, the legal firm representing Cooper.
Dahn Le, the owner, has been accused of knowingly placing his sperm in the bottled water and putting it up for sale, AFP reported.
"Instantly I knew something was not right, I just knew," Cooper told Fairfax Media. "You don't think anything like this would happen to you. It was just so hurtful. It's been so humiliating,"
According to the Fairfax Media, after a complaint was lodged about the bottled water with the health department in the city of Stirling, a sample was collected for testing and the results revealed it contained spermatozoa.
A DNA sample was taken from Le and testing confirmed his sample was a profile match for the sperm in the water, AFP reported. Previously a "confident, young woman" with a "fantastic" life, since the incident Cooper feels "shattered", "struggling" and "ashamed", AFP reported.
"I can't even make decisions on what to eat," she said. "It's really affected me so much."
The civil action was lodged after no criminal charges were laid, the lawyers said. The West Australian police said their legal advice was that "this incident, although serious, did not constitute a criminal offence".
Le's "disturbing actions" had a "devastating and lasting impact" on Cooper's life and "could happen to any one of us," lawyer Jacinta O'Connor said.
"We all place our trust in the people who serve us food and drinks and we don't expect them to deliberately contaminate the products we buy and consume," she said.
