Former Fergus fast-food manager denies sexually assaulting teen staff

GUELPH – A former fast-food restaurant manager has denied sexually assaulting two teenage girls working at the Fergus business in 2021.

But the 34-year-old admitted he intentionally moved staff out of his way with physical contact.

Navpreet Nahar was called to the stand in his own trial at Guelph Superior Court last week by defence lawyer Robert Christie.

Nahar was charged in 2021-22 with sexually touching an underage person (interference), exploiting a young person by touching them sexually, and two counts of sexual assault.

He has pleaded not guilty to the four charges stemming from allegations made by two women — aged 15 and 16 at the time — who cannot be named under a publication ban.

The women, now 20 and 21, testified last week before Justice Cynthia Petersen in the three-day trial that Nahar had touched their buttocks and in one incident grabbed one of the women’s breasts.

“If you’re in a hurry you grab them maybe by the shoulders,” Nahar testified through a Punjabi interpreter on May 12.

Nahar acknowledged he may have moved either of the girls physically, but testified he didn’t have specific memories of touching the girls inappropriately.

The defence argued incidental contact would be expected in the cramped space, one where a sandwich counter – the location of much of the alleged contact – is separated from a fry station by three to four feet, and occupied by four to five people at a time while rushing to fulfill orders.

Nahar’s contact was “incidental” and “not for a sexual purpose” the defence argued. Christie noted Nahar had come from India to Canada, and a new set of cultural norms, in 2018.

The women testified Nahar never asked them to move, but rather touched them without consent, and never apologized.

“When you needed something and they were in the way, you could have said something to them in English, correct?” Crown prosector Stacey Hamilton questioned.

“Not all the time. I cannot give them directions in English because sometimes it is very busy,” Nahar said.

He testified he would use the back of his palm, or his right arm to push them out of the way to physically move someone out of his way at the busy sandwich counter when he was helping with orders. He acknowledged it was possible he touched someone’s hips.

Court heard the women began to suspect Nahar’s touching wasn’t accidental given his repeated contact of their buttocks.

“The focus of the area that he keeps bumping into is also important,” Hamilton said, noting one of the women didn’t complain about Nahar touching any other part of her body in glancing contact.

“What she noticed was his routine grazing of her buttocks."

The defence argued testimony from the other woman about the length of time Nahar touched her buttocks and breast was beyond belief.

The trial hinges on the credibility and reliability of the witnesses to prove the Crown’s case beyond a reasonable doubt.

“We’re talking about an estimation that’s a matter of seconds that she’s being asked about five years later,” Hamilton said.

“What would be an acceptable amount of time for it to be believed?”

She argued the five to eight seconds of contact the woman testified to did not seem accidental or fleeting.

“He was not credible; his evidence should not be believed,” the prosecutor said, asking for Nahar to be found guilty as charged in the judge-alone trial.

The defence asked for Nahar to be acquitted, citing a 1991 case known as “R v W.D.” with three hurdles that must be passed for a conviction:

• the judge must not believe the accused's evidence;
• evidence must not leave the judge in reasonable doubt; and
• evidence accepted must prove guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

Justice Petersen’s verdict is expected next month.