A “spiritual” Fife tearoom boss convicted of sexually assaulting six women at his Leven cafes has been re-sentenced.
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.
An earlier trial at Kirkcaldy Sheriff Court heard he pushed one of the women over a table and mimicked sex.
On another occasion, he groped her private parts over her clothing.
The 59-year-old put his hands round a second woman’s neck and claimed to be “healing” her.
Burns, who was involved with a spiritualist church, told a third victim the movement of a crystal on a pendulum would reveal whether they would have sex.
He was also found to have groped or slapped the bottoms of two more women and attempted to kiss and cuddle another.
Re-sentenced
Burns had denied the offending and said all the complainers had lied in court and were part of a conspiracy linked to a former friend of his.
Sheriff Mark Allan told him he did not accept that account and found evidence from the witnesses to be “credible and reliable”.
The sheriff found Burns guilty of all six sexual assault charges.
Burns, of Natal Place, Cowdenbeath, was originally sentenced to 180 hours of unpaid work and given two years of offender supervision and programme and conduct requirements to address his sexual offending.
He was also put on the sex offenders register.
When he returned to the dock this week, Sheriff Allan revoked Burns’ unpaid work element due to medical reasons.
He instead handed him a six-month restriction of liberty order, confining him to his home between 9pm and 5am daily over this period.
Crystal
During the earlier trial, one woman spoke of 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 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”.
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.
Spoke about ‘healing’
The woman recalled another time when Burns mentioned in a sexual tone “the things he would do” when showing her a photo of her on his device.
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.
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.
Another 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.
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.
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