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 .