A WORKPLACE prank gone horribly wrong left Gianni Catanzaro with legs so badly burned he needed skin grafts.
On the eve of his wedding, the concreter was grabbed by two co-workers and hit in his groin and his hands and had his legs bound with duct tape.
His supervisor, Leonardo Zaccardelli then cut his clothes off with a knife, leaving him in his underwear while eggs were pelted at him.
The “egging” was where it was supposed to end, but Zaccardelli decided to slug him with a final indignity, pouring an arc of petrol around his feet and lighting it.
With the flames lapping at his knees and the wind blowing the flames toward him, a bound Mr Catanzaro struggled to move away from the flames.
But he fell towards the fire, burning his legs.
A workmate helped him up and away from the flames but on Thursday in the Industrial Court of NSW two workers were fined and two received good behaviour bonds for their roles in the drama.
The incident occurred on a worksite at Kotara, near Newcastle, on April 23, 2010, and was captured in photos taken on mobile phones.
Mr Cantazaro told a Workcover investigator his wedding day and honeymoon were ruined because he was in a wheelchair and had to be taken to the hospital nearly every day. It took him so long to recover from his burns he lost his job.
Zaccardelli, 49, pleaded guilty and was fined $2000 by the Industrial Court. He also has to pay up to $8000 in legal costs and is repaying $16,000 for Mr Cantanzaro’s treatment.
