A NOBEL laureate accused of wilfully damaging a boom gate twice near a Perth medical research building named in his honour has pleaded not guilty to two counts of criminal damage.
Barry Marshall was charged with the offences after two separate incidents on April 18 at a car park owned by the Queen Elizabeth Medical Centre Trust off Hospital Avenue, Nedlands.
The professor of medicine and microbiology entered his plea in Perth Magistrates Court on Tuesday.
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READ NOWThe court heard the state would call six witnesses at a one-day trial on June 8.
An earlier date could not be settled on as defence counsel Mara Barone said she had a homicide trial, while Professor Marshall had international commitments.
His bail was extended and he declined to speak with media outside court.
The matter was previously adjourned while his counsel awaited completion of a psychological report.
Prof Marshall famously drank a petri dish containing the Helicobacter pylori bacteria in order to prove the link between the organisms and stomach ulcers.
He and colleague Robin Warren won a Noble Prize for that research, which disproved the theory the painful condition was caused by stress.
He also led a team of researchers that won the “emerging innovation” category in the state government’s Innovator of the Year Awards last year for inventing an acoustic sensing belt that listens, records and analyses gut noises to detect disorders.
The device could avoid the need for invasive colonoscopies.