Firey fight over chicken curry

A NASTY dispute over a chicken dish has landed a curry restaurant chef in court.

Kamrul Islam, 47, is on trial accused of assault occasioning actual bodily harm after he threw a handful of chilli powder in the face of customer David Evans.

The incident, which occurred at the Prince of Bengal curry restaurant in Tonypandy, Wales on January 21, 2017, was caught on CCTV.

Jurors at Merthyr Tydfil Crown Court were shown footage of the attack, which began after a waiter asked Mr Evans and his wife Michelle about their meal.

Mr Evans told the waiter the meat was “tough and rubbery”, and the message was relayed to Mr Islam, who then approached the table.

Mr Evans claimed the chef spoke to the couple rudely, and he followed Mr Islam back to the kitchen to demand an apology.

According to The Independent, Mr Evans was filmed following Mr Islam to the restaurant’s kitchen before Mr Islam was seen grabbing a fistful of the spice and throwing it at Mr Evans’ face.

Mr Evans was temporarily blinded and was taken to hospital following the assault.

He suffered burns from the chilli and was treated with a saline drip which was used to flush the spice from his eyes.

Mr Islam was arrested later that night, although he has denied assault occasioning actual bodily harm.

Mr Islam claimed he retreated to the kitchen because we was afraid of Mr Evans, and that he had grabbed the chilli in self defence after alleging Mr Evans had clenched his fist as he confronted him in the kitchen.

But Mr Evans said it was Mr Islam who was “irate and aggressive”.

He disputed Mr Islam’s claim his fist was clenched and told the jury he had “no intention of doing anything of that sort”.

The day after the incident, Michelle Evans posted about it on Facebook because she “wanted to tell the people of Tonypandy and the surrounding area that if they went there this is what they might be treated like”.

She also shared a photo of her husband being treated in hospital.

According to the Hindustan Times, Ms Evans told reporters the altercation began after Mr Islam “swore” at her.

“What was meant to be a quick meal out with David turned out to be one of the most frightening times we’ve had,” she said.

“To cut a long story short, the chef came to our table, he was extremely rude and aggressive and accused us of not wanting to pay for our food. We said we would eat the rest of our food but the meat was really not eatable.”

The trial continues.

veya_victaous wrote:I think the customer is at least partially at fault they shouldn't have followed the chef to the kitchen door  

veya_victaous wrote:I think the customer is at least partially at fault they shouldn't have followed the chef to the kitchen door  

eddie wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:I think the customer is at least partially at fault they shouldn't have followed the chef to the kitchen door  

If you work with the public you should be able to handle a little irritation from customers.  
The chef threw the spice because it’s what an arrogant person would do - dismissively toss something at someone - and we know he was arrogant because he was rude to the customer at ha table.

The fault lies with the person who lost his temper and acted violently. Hope he’s sacked and has to eat his own rubbery chicken.

Vintage wrote:It was his place, which he ended up closing because he lost his customers, he had been there for twenty odd years with a good name. Someone else owns it now. He's been found not guilty.

Syl wrote:It is sad, one moment of madness and the business he dedicated his life to was lost.

Having worked in catering for years I have sympathy for him, but imo he over reacted by throwing a harmful substance in the mans eyes, even if he was dealing with the customer from hell.

Cass wrote:

Syl wrote:It is sad, one moment of madness and the business he dedicated his life to was lost.

Having worked in catering for years I have sympathy for him, but imo he over reacted by throwing a harmful substance in the mans eyes, even if he was dealing with the customer from hell.

Well if it was makes employees only and the customer was threatening him, then he rightfully claimed self-defense. He was found not guilty so the jury believed him.

Syl wrote:

Cass wrote:

Well if it was makes employees only and the customer was threatening him, then he rightfully claimed self-defense. He was found not guilty so the jury believed him.

The customer clearly had no right to step into the kitchen, he was trespassing, so thats possibly why the chef was cleared.
He has still paid a high price for throwing the chilli powder though.

Cass wrote:
True but maybe now that he’s been cleared he can open a different establishment.

eddie wrote:

veya_victaous wrote:I think the customer is at least partially at fault they shouldn't have followed the chef to the kitchen door  

If you work with the public you should be able to handle a little irritation from customers.  
The chef threw the spice because it’s what an arrogant person would do - dismissively toss something at someone - and we know he was arrogant because he was rude to the customer at ha table.

The fault lies with the person who lost his temper and acted violently. Hope he’s sacked and has to eat his own rubbery chicken.

Syl wrote:

Cass wrote:

Well if it was makes employees only and the customer was threatening him, then he rightfully claimed self-defense. He was found not guilty so the jury believed him.

The customer clearly had no right to step into the kitchen, he was trespassing, so thats possibly why the chef was cleared.
He has still paid a high price for throwing the chilli powder though.

eddie wrote:Shouldn’t throw stuff in people’s eyes. If that had permanently done some optical damage to the customer you’d all be singing a different song.....like, “My eyes adored you”, for instance, or “Eye of the tiger”.

Vintage wrote:
He's now opened an air conditioner business, retrained in the engineering for installation and servicing.

Maddog wrote:

eddie wrote:Shouldn’t throw stuff in people’s eyes. If that had permanently done some optical damage to the customer you’d all be singing a different song.....like, “My eyes adored you”, for instance, or “Eye of the tiger”.

What is the active ingredient in pepper spray?

Vintage wrote:He's now opened an air conditioner business, retrained in the engineering for installation and servicing.

eddie wrote:

Maddog wrote:

What is the active ingredient in pepper spray?

Don’t know. I’m singing Eye of the Tiger now.