A “spiritual” Fife tearoom boss has been found guilty of having groped six people at his Leven town centre cafes.
Alistair Burns targeted his victims at the Trudor Tearoom or Daunder In – doors apart in Forth Street – during a period spanning January 2019 to October 2023.
A trial heard that on separate occasions he pushed one of the women over a table and mimicked sex.
He put his hands round a second woman’s neck and claimed to be “healing” her.
He told a third victim the movement of a crystal on a pendulum would reveal whether they would have sex.
Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard 59-year-old Burns was involved with a spiritualist church.
He was also found to have groped or slapped the bottoms of two more women and attempted to kiss and cuddle another.
Burns had denied the offending and said all of the complainers had lied in court and were part of a conspiracy linked to a former friend of his.
But Sheriff Mark Allan told him he did not accept that account and he found the evidence from the witnesses to be “credible and reliable” in the essential elements.
The sheriff found Burns guilty of all six sexual assault charges.
Burns, of Natal Place, Cowdenbeath, was put on the sex offenders register.
Bent woman over in attack
One woman told the trial about an incident when Burns appeared to be bending down to get cutlery but “put his hand up and grabbed me between my legs”.
The woman, in her 40s, said: “I was shocked”.
She said that on another occasion he pushed her over onto a table and “held me down and mimicked sexual motions” by pushing his groin area into her bottom.
The woman said: “I actually think it was the back of my neck he held”.
Afterwards he just “laughed it off and made a joke,” the woman said, adding she felt “shocked and confused”.
The same woman recalled another time when Burns “grabbed my nipple and twisted it” over her clothing.
She recalled him speaking about spiritualism and healing as it was a “big part of his life”.
Crystal
Another woman, in her 20s, told the trial Burns was once holding a necklace with a gem or crystal at the bottom.
She said: “He asked the gem if myself and him would sleep together or have sex – I cannot remember specifically the wording – and informed that if the crystal moved in a certain way that would be ‘yes’ and that the crystal would never lie.”
She said she was “shocked” but laughed it off at the time.
The woman recalled another time when Burns mentioned in a sexual tone “the things he would do” when showing her photo of her on his device.
He also once commented on how her body looked in a summer dress.
She said on another occasion Burns put his hands on her lower back and hip area in a “tight grip” and made contact with his groin in a way that was not accidental.
Chakra chat
Another woman told the trial Burns once “slapped” her bottom with one hand and on another occasion, put his hands on her hips with his groin touching her.
She said she was 17 or 18 at the time.
A furher victim recalled Burns saying he was a “medium”, that he would “always talk about chakras” and once put his hands on her neck and back area and said he was doing “healing”.
This left her feeling “uncomfortable” but she laughed it off.
She said on one occasion Burns talked to her about “sleeping with older men” and how older men would “treat me better”.
Another woman told the trial Burns had put his hands round her waist before he “clasped” her bottom in an intentional way.
The woman, in her 50s, said she turned and questioned him about his actions.
15 similarities highlighted
A woman in her 40s said Burns once “tried to cuddle and kiss me” and that she stepped back and pushed him away as he had entered her personal space.
The woman said she questioned his actions but tried to make light of it at the time because it was an awkward situation.
In her closing submission, prosecutor Christine Allan argued that the assaults mutually corroborated each other by highlighting 15 similarities in the nature of Burns’ conduct.
Sentencing was adjourned until March 4 to obtain background reports.
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