Cairns man glued to toilet seat
MEAN pranksters glued an elderly man's bottom to a toilet seat in the public loos at Cairns Central, forcing him to sit tight during a highly embarrassing rescue.
The 70-year-old Cairns man was stuck so fast he had to be taken from the men’s toilets with the unwelcome fixture still attached, in full view of a gathering crowd of curious Saturday shoppers about 10.30am.
He was taken by ambulance to Cairns Base Hospital where it is understood industrial-strength solvents were used to dissolve the glue.
Police said it was the second case of a strong, fast-acting glue being smeared on a seat in the same men’s toilets that day, although in the earlier incident the man had been able to get up before the glue set.
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A Queensland Ambulance Service spokesman yesterday said the elderly man, who did not want to be identified, was "pretty distressed about the whole thing".
"That sort of thing would be bad enough to go through if you were a young person but for a person of his age it must have been particularly humiliating," the spokesman said.
"I imagine having to go out like that through a major shopping centre on a Saturday morning wouldn’t have been the best and all those emergency services would have gathered a fair sort of a crowd. We covered him up as much as possible."
Cairns Police District’s Supt Brent Carter said he was "ropeable" about the thoughtless prank and
appealed for public help to identify the culprit.
"I think it’s probably a prank but it’s a pretty sick sort of a joke," Supt Carter said.
"The humiliation of sitting on a toilet while emergency services are working around you trying to free you … I just feel for the man.
"Then to have to be wheeled out of the shopping centre with the toilet frame still attached to your body is just dreadful."
Shopping centre security responded to the trapped man’s calls for help from inside the men’s cubicle in ground floor toilets at the Target end of the centre, then alerted the ambulance and Queensland Fire and Rescue Service.
A spokeswoman for centre management yesterday said the centre was "taking the matter very seriously" and conducting an investigation.
Supt Carter said the shopping centre had "very limited" security camera coverage and anyone who could help should call police on 4030 7000 or Crime Stoppers on 1800 333 000.
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Toilet trauma: A Cairns Central shopper had a harrowing end to his toilet visit at the shopping centre.
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