Warning: This story contains offensive language.
A former pizza store manager has been blasted by a judge for trying to blame a staff member for “coming onto him” which then led to him twice grabbing her breasts.
Parth Kantibhai Patel believed the teen victim was “talking lavishly about sex” as they worked preparing pizza dough together in a Waikato Domino’s store last year.
Patel approached her, reached out and grabbed her right breast over her clothing, squeezing it, leaving the victim stunned.
She told him not to do that, and tried to continue working.
The 32-year-old laughed and as he separated the balls of dough commented, “this is what your tits feel like”, but the woman didn’t respond.
He then asked her what words she know in Hindi before telling her the equivalent of “suck my d***”.
He’d earlier bought her lunch and suggested after another staff member left that they go into the manager’s room and she could “pay him back”.
She said no and tried to continue working when he squeezed her breast again, this time making a high-pitched “oooh” sound.
The court heard the victim immediately left the store and went to a neighbouring dairy, telling the person she felt uncomfortable.
Patel followed her in there and later called her three times after she had left, and texted her saying he felt bad and to return his calls.
Judge Brett Crowley was today deciding whether to grant his Section 106 discharge without conviction in the Hamilton District Court.
Patel’s counsel Mark Jepson said the application was urgent as his visa was set to run out on September 9.
He submitted his client had done “just about everything he could possibly do to try and reduce the gravity of the offending”, including regularly, and voluntarily, mowing lawns for Hospice Waikato, attending harmful sexual behaviour counselling and voluntary work at other community events.
He had also seen a psychologist and was working with a health coach.
“I don’t think believe there’s anything he could have possibly done to address the offending and address the gravity,” Jepson said.
“He could have admitted it,” Judge Crowley replied bluntly. “And not blamed her for it. Those are the things in the centre of my mind.”
The judge was referring to Patel’s comments in his Section 27 cultural report, stating the victim was “lousy and behaving sexually lavishly, whatever that means,” Judge Crowley said.
Instead of accepting responsibility, the judge noted Patel said he never touched her breast, “he only brushed it to get some flour off her shirt and anything he did it was because she was flirting with him and coming onto him”.
“So why did he plead guilty?” the judge asked Jepson.
Jepson accepted Patel’s remorse “had not been expressed very well” in the reports prepared for his client but he was remorseful.
The judge read certain excerpts from the reports to the court, with one believing Patel had “misinterpreted” the victim’s behaviour as flirting and could be explained by “cultural differences”, while another stated he had a “momentary lapse” of judgment, and he had “never come across any woman talking to him so lavishly about sex”.
Jepson noted the reports were prepared in May, then July, so time had passed and his client had continued to rehabilitate.
His wife still supported her husband and had outlined the devastating consequences on herself and their 2-year-old child if he was deported back to India.
“Does she return to India and to her previous life or does she remain in New Zealand with her daughter without a father? This is something that doesn’t affect just Mr Patel,” Jepson said.
However, Judge Crowley said he couldn’t be sure if Patel was genuinely remorseful or if he was simply trying to stay in the country.
Another doctor found Patel to be “particularly naive in sexual matters”.
The judge said it was clear Patel blamed the victim for what happened.
“He says she was behaving in a lavishly sexual way, speaking about sexual body parts, and that led him to believe she was flirting with him.
“He ignores matters like, telling her not to buy lunch, and providing her with lunch.”
Judge Crowley said he “completely rejected” Patel’s interpretation of what occurred, and found his level of offending to be moderate to serious.
“In fact, the statement that he now blames the victim for what happened and ascribes to her a dishonest motive in trying to get her job by making up an allegation of indecent assault aggravates the seriousness of the offending.”
Judge Crowley said he accepted the consequences of a conviction were potentially significant with the possibility of deportation, but said that was a matter for the Department of Immigration.
“I do not consider that this is a case where the court should be serving the role of Immigration authority and effectively shield criminal offending from them by not entering a conviction.”
He sentenced Patel to three months’ home detention.
A Domino’s spokesperson confirmed Patel hadn’t worked at the company since the allegations were made in January 2022.
“Domino’s takes team member wellbeing extremely seriously and has a zero-tolerance approach to harassment, abuse, or discrimination of any kind.
“We have mandatory training for all team members on appropriate behaviour in the workplace, and also regularly run refresher training courses for our franchisee partners and managers.
“We will continue to make it abundantly clear that this sort of behaviour will not be tolerated.
“We pride ourselves on being a fun, supportive and safe place to work for thousands of team members across New Zealand.”
Belinda Feek is an Open Justice reporter based in Waikato. She has worked at NZME for eight years and been a journalist for 19.
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