'Gelati-gate' a stomach-churning but compelling whodunnit

Sydney

It may well become the most celebrated phrase uttered in Australia since Lindy Chamberlain screamed out the immortal line 'the dingo's got my baby' at the Ayers Rock campsite in August 1980.

'You made my mum eat poo' - the horrified words of a small boy - are now the stuff of urban folklore and have been transmitted around the globe. The discovery of human faeces in a bowl of ice cream is certainly the city's most loathsome, stomach-churning and yet oddly compelling scandal of the year.

Variously tagged 'gelati-gate' or the 'gelati poo whodunnit', the saga began at the Coogee Bay Hotel on October 5. Steve and Jessica Whyte had taken their three young sons and some friends to watch a rugby game on the pub's big television screens - and to enjoy a meal at the newly refurbished brasserie.

Frustrated by the pub's poor service, high cost of the food and the deafening sound from the big-screen televisions, Mrs Whyte complained to hotel management. As a peace offering a family-sized bowl of vanilla, hazelnut and chocolate ice cream was sent over. Exactly who served the dessert is still subject to dispute. But there was a sting in the tail.

'The minute I put the spoon to my lips the stench went through my nostrils,' Mrs Whyte recalls. 'I retched and spat it into the napkin. My friend thought I was overreacting, but when she smelt it, she started screaming. My poor son screamed at one of the staff: 'You made my mum eat poo'.'