Warning: This story contains an image which may be distressing.
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A mother says she and her young daughter are traumatised after opening a packet of SpongeBob SquarePants biscuits bought at the Reject Shop and finding a dead mouse inside.
All Azra Yaman, 10, wanted when she walked into The Reject Shop was a delicious biscuit in the shape of SpongeBob SquarePants – a yellow sponge who lives under the sea and stars in the cartoon show of the same name.
Instead, she and her mother both ended up with post-traumatic stress disorder, a lawsuit claims.
Her family are now demanding unspecified damages from The Reject Shop and the company's suppliers after Azra allegedly discovered a mouse entombed inside the biscuit.
Ozlem Yaman, 42, of Caroline Springs, filed a writ earlier this month in the County Court in Melbourne against the Reject Shop and three suppliers. Another has been filed on behalf of her daughter.
She alleges the defendants negligently supplied biscuits that weren't safe for human consumption, and that led to her and her daughter suffering a range of psychological maladies.
On February 19 2015 Ms Yaman and Azra, who is now 12, walked into The Reject Shop in CS Square, Caroline Springs, where Ms Yaman picked out a small packet of SpongeBob SquarePants Mr Munchies for Azra.
Later, at home, Azra peeled open the foil wrapping – and let out an ear-piercing shriek.
Curled inside the biscuit was the brown, furry snout of a dead mouse, her writ claims.
The next day Ms Yaman and other family members headed back to the store with the cookies to demand an explanation.
Instead, the family's lawyers claim, they were laughed at by staff, who told them there was nothing they could do.
The lawsuit claims Azra suffered nervous shock from the incident, as well as a psychiatric injury, anxiety, depression, and post-traumatic stress disorder. She is asking for unspecified damages.
Ms Yaman suffered a similar list of injuries from witnessing her daughter opening the packet, the writs say.
The lawsuit accuses the Reject Shop and its suppliers of negligence for serving cookies unfit for human consumption.
The company and the other three suppliers named in the writ have been contacted for comment.