Chippy boss cleared of sex assault on girls

Aug 7 2008 by Graham Fraser, Hamilton Advertiser

THERE was a culture of ‘touching up’ female workers at a Hamilton chippy, a court was told last week.

The statement was made by a 20-year-old ex-member of staff at Marinis in Low Waters Road.

She was giving evidence in the case of Salih Kus (39), the former chip shop manager who was accused of sexually assaulting a 16-year-old girl and the 20-year-old at Marinis.

Kus was alleged to have assaulted the 20-year-old by handling her breasts and buttocks in the period between June 1 and November 18 last year.

She told the court: “They (workers at Marinis) touched the breasts or the bum. It was just how the boys played at work.

“We were all very handy, very friendly. All the guys did it. It would be a game, a joke. But it could have been taken in the wrong context.”

When asked about her own experience with Kus, she said the accused had touched her on the breasts and buttocks and added: “I just told him to stop playing and behave”.

However, Salih Kus was cleared of both sexual assaults at his trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court.

Sheriff Shiona Waldron said: “I should make it clear that I found both of the girls to be entirely believable witnesses.

“But I have a doubt in relation to the second girl (the 20-year-old) if the touching described was intended to be an assault.

“I should also make clear that the practices described in this court, whether they took place with the consent of the employees or not, are totally unacceptable in a modern world.”

Marinis take-away shop in Low Waters Road has been under new management since the allegations against Kus came to light.

Kus, who now runs a take-away shop in Penrith, always denied assaulting the girls.

The 39-year-old Turk, of Tantallon Drive, Coatbridge, was accused of assaulting the 16-year-old girl between August 1 and September 30 last year by repeatedly taking a hold of her before touching her buttocks and placing his hands down her top to handle her breasts.

The girl, who is now aged 17, told the court she worked at the chippy from August to September last year.

On her second shift, she said Kus touched her.

She added: “Salih put his hand down my top and felt my breasts. I pushed him off and just laughed it off. He didn’t persist.”

The girl said Kus assaulted her “almost every day” in the back room of the Low Waters Road chippy for the next month.

One day, she asked Salih to give her some wages. She alleged that Salih took her into the back office, a room no bigger than a cupboard.

“He tried to kiss me. I was shaking and crying.

“I then left the chippy because my mum found out that he (Salih) had been doing things he shouldn’t have been doing.”

Vernie McCusker, Kus’ solicitor, pressed the teenager as to her reasons for remaining at Marinis for a month while she was being allegedly assaulted.

“| was really scared,” replied the girl. “I didn’t know what to do.”

Mr McCusker then accused the girl of making up her story and suggested her family had paid another witness; a claim the girl firmly denied.

Kus denied touching any of the girls.

Referring to the 16-year-old girl, he told the court: “No, I never did that. I would not do this to somebody I don’t know. If I did that why did she continue to work there for a month?”

Mehmet Vatansever, Kus’ father-in-law, also appeared in court.

He worked at the chippy at the time of the alleged assaults.

When asked if the males in Marinis touched the girls, he replied: “That is not right. That is all lies.”

A third charge which alleged Kus assaulted another 16-year-old girl at the chippy was dropped by the Crown.