Chef cleared over ‘friendly’ kiss

A TURKISH chef who kissed a waitress has been cleared of sexual assault after arguing that his conduct was ‘normal and friendly’ in his homeland.

Neset Gunbat, 48, was arrested after the 19-year-old said he hugged her and kissed her on the lips or cheeks at the restaurant where they worked.

The waitress, a university student, said she tried in vain to repel his advances and was left feeling ‘unclean’.

Mr Gunbat, whose wife is expecting their third child in April, told police he was merely indulging in ‘acceptable behaviour’ typical of his Turkish culture. He said he kissed her on the cheek, not on the lips.

Magistrates found him not guilty of two indecent assaults, despite finding the woman’s account ‘credible’. Had Mr Gunbat been convicted, he could have been jailed.

Stockport Magistrates’ Court heard that two incidents occurred in September and October 2019 after Mr Gunbat, a company director who used to own a restaurant in Turkey, became head chef at the restaurant in Macclesfield, Cheshire.

The waitress, who left her job, said in the second incident, Mr Gunbat ‘put his arms over my shoulders and then he leaned around the side of me to try and kiss me’.

Mr Gunbat, now of Coventry, said: ‘In my culture, this is acceptable... I didn’t think what I was doing was inappropriate.’

Acquitting Mr Gunbat, chairman of the bench Neil Brettell said: ‘We are satisfied that contact was made between the two people but we doubt it was sexual.’