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Walderslade: Village Cafe owner jailed for sexual assaults

A cafe boss has been jailed for six months for sexually assaulting two former waitresses.

Turkish-born Fatih Sakar twice pinched the bottom of one woman and grabbed the buttocks of another at the Village Cafe in Walderslade.

Maidstone Crown Court heard the 37-year-old, known was Martin, was always careful to make sure others were not looking when groping victims.

The Village Cafe in Walderslade
The Village Cafe in Walderslade

Prosecutor Claire Cooper said at the trial in May when the first victim discovered another waitress had gone to police about his behaviour she felt bad for not reporting it herself.

But she confided in her family and said in an online chat: "My boss keeps touching me up. I’m constantly crying."

She also told her boyfriend, who went to the cafe and warned Sakar to "stop touching his missus".

Miss Cooper said Sakar "overstepped the boundaries" by making unwanted and unwarranted sexual advances to the women.

One woman said Sakar called her sexy, baby and darling.

“It was cringey and uncomfortable but I just shrugged it off,” she said.

"He would also say she had 'a nice bum'.

Sakar, she said, pinched her bottom while she was making drinks behind the counter.

The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court
The case was heard at Maidstone Crown Court

“He would be very careful in how he did it,” she told the jury.

“I was making a hot drink and he has come by and pinched my bum.

“I slapped him on the chest but he found it funny. He laughed. I felt awkward, really awkward. About an hour later he did it again.”

Miss Cooper said the two women did not know each other and had not worked together at the cafe which had a high turnover of staff.

She said of the other victim: “Without saying anything, he grabbed her right buttock. She describes it as a full hand grab and said nothing about was accidental.

“She immediately stepped away and he said: ‘You’ve got a sexy bum. Can I touch it again?’”

He also stroked her bottom in a circular motion that day. The woman said she “froze and cringed” and went home and reported it to police.

Sakar, of Gill Avenue, Wainscott, denied three charges of sexual assault, but was convicted.

He had claimed there was no touching, either sexual or accidental, and accused the women of lying.

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