SLEAZY CAFE BOSS GROPED BUM OF GIRL, 15, HE HIRED TO WORK FOR HIM
A SLEAZY cafe owner who groped a teenager who worked for him has been spared jail.Steven Nugent, 54, hired the girl at his Food Crate Cafe in Bellshill, Lanarkshire, but subjected her to unwanted sexual advances and creepy behaviour.
He slapped her on the backside in November 2023 when she was aged just 15 before targeting her again by repeatedly hugging and kissing her.
She reported the incidents to her school and police were called in.
Nugent, of Kirkintilloch, East Dunbartonshire, denied any wrongdoing and went on trial at Hamilton Sheriff Court where he was found guilty of two charges of sexual assault.
Sheriff Eddie Gilroy ordered Nugent to carry out 180 hours of unpaid work and put him under supervision for a year.
The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reason, said she had been cleaning a freezer when Nugent ‘slapped’ her bum before walking away ‘laughing’.
She added: “It was quite forceful and it was intentional, it made me feel uncomfortable.” She quit her job last year but returned for food with friends and was again groped by her former boss.
She told depute fiscal Jack Muir: “Steven came right up behind me, put both his arms around me and I was unable to move and he then kissed my head and my neck.” “It made me feel really uncomfortable and he let go of me and I just walked straight out.” Her friend told the trial the girl acted ‘differently’ after the incident in November last year and appeared ‘anxious, nervous and uncomfortable’.
Nugent told defence lawyer Andy Brophy he denied the claims against him.
He said: “Absolutely never, it is not in my nature.” “It is not the way anyone would be allowed to conduct themselves with a minor and I can’t make it any more definitive, it just didn’t happen.” Asked if there was any ‘ill-feeling’ between them, he said: “Never in a million years, she was a lovely wee person to work with.”
