A once bright girl is now effectively a quadriplegic and severely brain damaged after eating a KFC chicken 'twister', a judge hearing her $10 million damages case has been told.
But KFC denies Monika Samaan, then aged seven, developed salmonella poisoning from the sandwich-style product, bought on October 24, 2005, at its Villawood outlet, in Sydney's west.
The girl's barrister, Anthony Bartley SC, referred to "disturbing and unsettling" evidence about KFC food practices, noting that an internal assessment concluded the Villawood outlet was at the "breakdown" level in June 2005.
Monika, now 11, has taken the NSW Supreme Court action through her father, Amanwial Samaan, who, along with her mother and brother, was also hospitalised after sharing the twister.
"(Monika) has been left, in effect, as a quadriplegic," Mr Bartley said on Monday in his opening address.
"She has gone from being an extremely bright little girl to someone with very limited mental capacity indeed.
"It was thought for some days by the hospital that she would not in fact survive."
Mr Bartley told Justice Stephen Rothman he would hear of methods designed to prevent salmonella and descriptions of washing methods for raw chickens.
The 16-year-old in charge of cooking at the Villawood outlet had described part of his duties as removing "feathers, foreign objects and blood bits" from the raw chickens, Mr Bartley said.
"Your honour will hear that, if the store was particularly busy, then even if chicken dropped on the floor near the burger station, then it was on some occasions simply put back into the burger station from where it had fallen," he said.
That evidence would come from those working at the time at other KFC stores and at Villawood, which was not a franchise but "their own internal operation", he said.
"In relation to the performance of this particular store, in August 2005, your honour will hear a group of 10 or more people who bought KFC from the Villawood store fell ill with vomiting and diarrhoea."
A "competing source" of the food poisoning was chicken schnitzel prepared by Mr Samaan on the weekend of October 22 and 23, but Mr Bartley rejected this as being the culprit.
No one became sick after the schnitzel, while Monika's grandmother, who ate the schnitzel but did not eat any of the twister, did not become ill at all.
"Monika cannot walk, cannot crawl, she can talk to the extent of saying whether she is happy or unhappy," Mr Bartley said.
To a very limited extent she could feed herself, she wears a nappy and goes to a special school.
Although she was about 25kg when she ate the twister, she now weighs more than 60kg, adding to her parents' difficulties in helping her get around.
While her close-knit family had dealt with her illness with "fortitude", Mr Bartley said there had been huge emotional and physical consequences.
Her father had given up his job as a forklift driver so he could help look after Monika, who has an older brother and two younger sisters.
KFC's barrister, Ian Barker QC, has not yet addressed the court except to say the liability was the issue in the case.
In a later statement, a KFC spokesman said: "While sympathetic for Monika, we remain firm that KFC is not responsible for Monika's illness."
The hearing is continuing.
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