BY LUCY CAULKETT-
A reckless restaurant owner has been jailed for six years for the manslaughter of a customer.
In a landmark ruling, father of four, Mohammed Zaman, was found guilty of manslaughter by gross negligence and six safety food offenses.
The customer, who has had an allergic reaction to a curry, suffered a severe anaphylactic shock in January 2014, after eating a takeaway containing peanuts from the Indian Garden on Easingwold North Yorkshire.
Mohammed Zaman, 52, was found guilty at Teesside Crown Court for the manslaughter of 38 year old Paul Wilson, in a sad case that highlights a serious level of negligence. Jurors were told that Zahman cut corners by using cheaper ingredients containing peanuts. They also heard that he continued to sell dangerous meals after being warned of the dangers.
Zaman, of Aylesham Court, Huntington, arrogantly denied he was responsible for the death, but a jury was told he switched almond powder for a cheaper ground nut mix, which contained peanuts.
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The fact that the dead manager specified “no nuts” when he ordered a chicken tikka masala , makes his death all the more annoying. Jurors heard that the instruction was written on his order and on the lid of his takeaway, the court heard..
Only 3 weeks earlier, a different customer with a peanut allergy bought a meal from one of Mr Zaman’s six restaurants, had a reaction requiring hospital treatment.
The court were told that the restaurant owner had a “reckless and cavalier attitude to risk” and “put profit before safety” at all his outlets, the jury was told. This shows he was a dangerous business man who is every customers nightmare.
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Zaman, who was almost £300,000 in debt, had cut costs by using the cheaper nut powder and by employing untrained, illegal workers, the court heard.
Sentencing him, Judge Simon Bourne-Arton, the Recorder of Middlesbrough, said Zaman had remained “in complete and utter denial” and ignored warnings from officials after 17-year-old Ruby Scott suffered a reaction to a curry, three weeks before Mr Wilson’s death.
The judge said he had thrown away his successful business and property portfolio worth £2m “in pursuit of profit”.
“You have done so in such a manner as to bring about the death of another individual”, the judge told him. Paul Wilson was in the prime of his life.”He, like you, worked in the catering trade. He, unlike you, was a careful man.”
But the judge in a slight twist, wrongfully credited Zaman as being of “good character” , adding that the sentence would have an impact on his wife and four children. The fact Zahman was on record as being of good character doesn’t mean he actually was of good character. His reckless and selfish attitude in putting profit over life automatically adjudges him as being of bad character.
Mr Wilson’s parents, Margaret and Keith, from Sheffield, said in a statement that they felt “numb, shock and disbelief” over their son’s death. “I feel robbed that I won’t share the rest of my life with Paul”,” Keith Wilson said.
Mrs Wilson said her son was “meticulous” about dealing with peanuts after a reaction to a chocolate bar at the age of seven, and that the smell of peanuts, or accidentally drinking from the same glass as someone who was eating them, could trigger a reaction.
Mr. Wilson tried to make himself sick when he realized he hadn’t got what he ordered. Little did he know that he would die from the anaphylactic shock.
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Zaman denied being on the premises at the time the food was ordered telling jurors he was not on the premises when the curry was ordered, and blamed his staff for the terrible blunder.
The Bangladesh born business man, who and came to the UK aged 15, had the ”perfect immigrant story, before this case, that everyone should aspire, his lawyer told the court. He started working for his uncle in the restaurant business, and eventually owned six himself in York and North Yorkshire.
His restaurants won local business honours and acclaim from the British Catering Association and the British Curry Awards, the jury heard. Those honours and acclaim now count for nothing, as he has now been shown to be an irresponsible and reckless killer.