Wellington West chocolatier guilty of sexual assault on teen employee
A Wellington West chocolatier who once prided himself on treating customers as guests in his home has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a teen employee.
Omar Fares was found guilty Thursday in a judge-alone sexual assault trial.
The allegations against the then36-year-old owner and operator of A Thing for Chocolate were made by a high school employee who was 17 at the time.
The girl had been an employee at the café for just four days.
The teen said Fares held her tightly after what started as a consensual hug inside the café. He then kissed her neck repeatedly without her consent.
Fares denied holding or kissing the girl. The victim is now 19 and in university.
In the days before the March 20, 2016 assault, she had been looking for a job and handing out résumés when she happened upon Fares’s café.
Fares began focusing on her clothing and said he was sexually attracted to her.
The girl phoned police after the unwanted kissing, when the sexual comments didn’t stop and she felt increasingly unsafe.
Inside the business was a backroom with a privacy curtain that shielded those in it from the view of anyone in the seating area of the café.
Ontario Court Justice Mitchell Hoffman said Fares sexualized their workplace encounters whenever he thought customers weren’t able to see. The judge determined that Fares took advantage of his position of authority over the victim.
Fares had been married for 18 years and had four children at the time of the assault. He opened the chocolate shop and café in 2014.
Fares is scheduled to be sentenced in October. syogaretnam@postmedia.com twitter.com/shaaminiwhy