Hartlepool takeaway owner facing jail for sexual assault on teen

Kashmir Nanan, 52, plied the teenager with vodka before groping her, Teesside Crown Court heard.

She was hysterical when she made a complaint within two hours to a friend and her family about the incident at Shearers in Merlin Way, Hartlepool, and the police were called.

A jury at Teesside Crown Court convicted him of sexual assault by a 10 to 2 majority after a three-day trial.

He was remanded in custody for a pre-sentence report to be prepared ahead of sentence on May 21.

He was ordered by the judge to sign the Sex Offender’s Register.

Judge Stephen Ashurst told Nanan, of Seaton Lane, Hartlepool, through a Punjabi-speaking interpreter that the likely outcome was an immediate custodial sentence.

The girl said in evidence that Nanan touched her over her clothing.

She was interviewed first on video in which she said that he had engaged her first in sexual talk and he had then touched her in a sexual way.

Nanan said in his defence that she was a fantasist and that she had made it all up.

He accused her of stealing his vodka and drinking it, and he said that she had stolen £20.