A 51-year-old chef left a young bar worker traumatised after making sexually inappropriate comments towards her as they worked together at a Dunfermline restaurant.
John Lennie, of the town’s Glen Fruin Grove, was repeatedly asked by the woman to stop the unsavoury remarks and was told by fellow workers to apologise during the incident.
He failed to do so and ended up losing his job.
Lennie, who is a father, admitted the charge of communicating indecently with the woman when he appeared at Dunfermline Sheriff Court.
Sheriff William Gilchrist fined him £270 and placed him on the Sex Offenders Register.
Lewd remarks
Procurator fiscal depute Jill Currie told the court the woman and two employees at the establishment, which is not being named for legal reasons, observed Lennie under the influence of alcohol and smelling of booze on the evening of August 5 last year.
The depute fiscal said Lennie started making inappropriate comments towards the young woman about her breasts.
Ms Currie said: “The complainer asked the accused to stop making these comments on numerous occasions.
“He also said things similar to, ‘he would have her right here, right now’ and ‘if she did not take me to bed today, it would be another time’.
“The complainer felt frightened by the comments and extremely uncomfortable.”
Fake apology
The depute fiscal said Lennie then went back to the kitchen of the establishment and asked a fellow worker if he should apologise and was told he should.
Two employees who were present at the time said they were alarmed by his behaviour.
The depute fiscal continued: “The accused said, ‘should I apologise or should I bend her over the pass’, while laughing.
“The witnesses advised the accused to apologise and he did go up to apologise but a short time later he started his comments again, saying he was not sorry and did not regret the comments he made.”
He then made several more lewd remarks.
The depute fiscal said this left the young woman “visibly upset and scared.”
Cocktail-tasting session
The woman spoke to her boss about the incident and an investigation was carried out which resulted in the chef being sacked.
Lennie later penned an apology letter to the woman but the fiscal depute said the woman had been left feeling “quite traumatised” by what happened.
Defence lawyer Elaine Buist said her client had drunk alcohol because there had been a cocktail-tasting session at the bar prior to the incident.
The solicitor said Lennie, who had no previous convictions and now works as a chef elsewhere in Fife, was suffering from mental health problems at the time and had not been properly medicated.
She said he was of the view that others were participating in the conversation but accepts that, upon reflection, his comments “went too far” that evening.
Sheriff Gilchrist told Lennie: “These were entirely inappropriate comments… doubly so given you had been told to stop repeatedly and apologise by others, yet you continued in this manner.”
