Former Fergus restaurant manager guilty of sexually assaulting teen employees
Superior Court judge convicts former shift manager on four counts
GUELPH – A former Fergus fast-food restaurant manager has been found guilty of sexually assaulting two teenage employees in 2021.
The Advertiser is not naming the restaurant to avoid identifying the women, who cannot be named under a publication ban.
Navpreet 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.
Nahar pleaded not guilty to the four charges stemming from allegations made by two women aged 15 and 16 at the time.
Jordan Snobelen
In a May trial, the women, now 20 and 21, testified Nahar, their shift manager at the time, touched their buttocks repeatedly and in one incident grabbed one of the women’s breasts.
At the trial, defence lawyer Robert Christie argued the contact was incidental and non-sexual, the result of a cramped, busy sandwich counter and Nahar nudging staff aside rather than directing them in English.
The women testified Nahar never asked them to move out of his way, and never apologized after the contact.
Repeated contact with the women's buttocks and a lingering breast grab were neither incidental nor fleeting, prosecutor Stacey Hamilton argued.
Hamilton pushed back on Nahar’s testimony that he moved staff physically because he didn’t have time to direct them during rush periods.
In Guelph court earlier this month, Superior Court Justice Cynthia Petersen found Nahar guilty on all four counts.
Three of the four counts carry maximum prison terms of 14 years; the second sexual assault count, involving someone 16 or older, carries a maximum of 10 years. However, courts rarely impose maximums, reserving them for the most serious cases.
Although credibility of the testimony heard during the trial was “critical” in the case, Petersen said, the outcome could not “rest only on whether [a] judge believes the Crown’s evidence or finds it more plausible.”
“A conviction must always rest on proof beyond a reasonable doubt,” Petersen said on July 3.
Jordan Snobelen
“Mr. Nahar’s testimony suffered from multiple internal inconsistencies and did not withstand cross-examination,” the judge said, adding she found him to be evasive during the Crown’s questioning.
“The most glaring example of this pertains to the issue of whether he ever intentionally touched employees in the workplace; he was questioned about this repeatedly.
“Nahar initially stated he could not recall, and then he denied ever touching an employee intentionally, and later admitted it was possible and explained why he may have,” Petersen said.
Although Nahar’s testimony about where and how he may have touched employees was inconsistent, Petersen said, he never wavered about denying he touched the women’s buttocks.
Still, the judge said she was left with doubt about the reliability and credibility of Nahar’s testimony and accepted the women’s evidence, finding the Crown had proven the offences beyond a reasonable doubt.
Petersen said she was convinced Nahar intentionally, and without consent, touched the women’s buttocks repeatedly for a sexual purpose.
Sentencing submissions from the Crown and defence are expected to be heard this fall.
