A former council worker has been found guilty of trying to poison homeless people living in a park. Neville Douglas Welsh, 65, was accused of deliberately leaving iced coffee bottles filled with methylated spirits, detergent, mineral turps and weed killer around Dean Park, in Townsville, north Queensland. A co-worker told the court he saw Welsh put a bottle down and wipe his fingerprints from it after leaving it by a vacant shopfront. But Welsh's defence barrister, Harvey Walters, claimed that Welsh ‘forgot’ to take the bottle away, the Townsville Bulletin reported. Neville Douglas Welsh, 65, has been found guilty of attempting to poison homeless people on the streets of Townsville, north Queensland (stock photo shown) Groups of homeless people were known to congregate in the city's Dean Park . The co-worker also told Townsville District Court, where a jury found Welsh guilty of attempting to injure by noxious substance, that Welsh said: ‘I should have put Ratsak and chillies in there to burn their guts.’ Other co-workers said Welsh left the bottles at shopfronts because from his experience working as a street cleaner he thought the homeless would ‘drink anything’. They said he was trying to get them to ‘p**s off’. Groups of homeless people were known to congregate in the city park. The former Townsville City Council worker will be sentenced in the same court on Wednesday. Neville Douglas Welsh worked for Townsville Council as a street cleaner . In August 2013, after Welsh’s first court hearing, Townsville Council CEO Ray Burton told the ABC the incident had distressed staff. ‘I have many staff who have contacted me through management and individually in terms of their shock and being appalled in respect to this matter," he said. ‘It's certainly not behaviour we condone among our staff.’ Mr Burton said as soon as the Council heard about the matter they conducted a sweep of the area to ensure there were no drinking bottles or containers near Dean Park. Sorry we are not currently accepting comments on this article.
Neville Douglas Welsh, 65, worked for Townsville Council . A jury found him guilty of attempting to injure by noxious substance . Co-worker told court Welsh wanted to get the homeless to 'p**s off'
Welsh worked as a street cleaner when he left poisoned bottles by shops .