Wakefield Turkish restaurant owner slashed with broken wine glass over swindling accusation

The victim was slashed with a broken wine glass behind the bar at Icmeler in Wakefield. Gazi Mayden admitted a charge of GBH without intent after the incident in the Northgate restaurant.

Prosecutor Jess Butterell told Leeds Crown Court that the pair had been friends for 12 years, having met in Wakefield.

They became business partners and opened the popular restaurant in January 2022, but their working relationship began to deteriorate quickly when Mayden began to accuse the man of stealing from the business, which the victim strenuously denied.

Tension continued to build between the pair until it spilled into violence on the evening of May 4, 2022. Mayden had been looking through receipts at the bar at around 10pm and reiterated the accusations to the victim, who was stood behind the bar.

The incident that followed was caught on the restaurant’s CCTV and played to the judge in court. The argument became heated before Mayden grabbed an open can of Sprite from the bar and threw it at the man, who recoiled.

He then went round to other side of the bar, was seen to grab the victim by the throat and push him towards the till area. He then grabbed a wine glass from the rack above the bar. The victim was able to get free but the glass smashed and cut his arm in the process.

Mayden, of Ashfield Street, Normanton, was later arrested and interviewed but refused to answer questions.

In an impact statement, the man said had since lost the business, that he “lives his life in fear” and his life was now “unrecognisable”. He said he was made physically ill by the issue, had installed CCTV cameras around his home due to alleged threats and said the property was now “like a fortress”.

He said: “People should not have to live like this. This has turned my life upside down. I’m financially ruined.”

Mitigating for 41-year-old Mayden, Amber Walker said: “Clearly he did not manage the situation as he should and some poor choices were made.”

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She said he had no previous convictions and there had been a delay in bringing the case to court. A probation report read to the court suggested Mayden was remorseful but maintains there was provocation.

Judge Richard Mansell KC recognised that the injury caused by the smashed glass was a “reckless assault rather than intentional one”. He also said he was “unconvinced” by the victim’s physical symptoms, and told Mayden: “I do not put the collapse of the business at your door. It’s clear it was a fragile relationship from the outset.”

He gave Mayden six months’ jail, suspended for for 12 months, 15 rehabilitation days and gave him a life-long restraining order to stay away from his former business partner.