Man facing harassment trial banned from trains
He is alleged to have targeted three women
A Maidstone man has been barred from travelling by train after allegedly subjecting three women to campaigns of harassment.
Orhan Idriz will stand trial after denying the allegations at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on Friday.
The 38-year-old, of St Luke’s Avenue, is accused of hounding two women on trains between Strood and Maidstone West on numerous occasions between December and January.
Magistrates heard he boarded the services and began watching the victims between the seats.
It is claimed on one occasion he looked up a woman’s skirt and grunted and during another trip began chewing bits of newspaper into balls and flicking them at the other woman’s legs.
It is also alleged between last June and January while working at Jacob’s Barbers and Tanning Salon, in Mill Street, he became infatuated with a customer, offering her free treatment and staring at her in the changing rooms.
The victim said she became “freaked out” by Idriz’s “creepy behaviour” and stopped visiting the shop, but she alleges he tracked her down, approaching her in Week Street and going to the shop where she worked, watching her and loitering outside until the end of her shift. On each occasion she said she told him to leave her alone.
The incidents only stopped when the police got involved after Idriz was said to have pestered her on a night out.
Idriz, who spoke through a Bulgarian translator and represented himself, admitted being present on each occasion but claimed the harassment allegations were made up.
Magistrates released Idriz on conditional bail not to travel on any railway or attend any station in England and Wales without consulting British Transport Police or contact any of the alleged victims.
He will stand trial at Maidstone Magistrates’ Court on Thursday, September 29.