Erdal Eryimaz 41

Description

A member of staff at a Bishop’s Stortford restaurant who raped a customer on her work Christmas party has been jailed for eight years and four months.

Erdal Eryimaz, 40, followed the victim into a toilet cubicle at Skew, the Turkish eatery and cocktail bar in Adderley Road, where he grabbed and assaulted her.

The woman, who is in her 30s, told a 999 call handler: “I just got thrown into the toilet by guy who works in Skew and he had sex with me and I didn’t want him to.”

She told St Albans Crown Court that she was pinned against the wall in an attack that left her feeling “dirty and filthy”.

In a victim personal statement read to the court by prosecution barrister Matthew Walsh, the woman said: “I was raped by a person in a position of trust in the restaurant. A staff member assaulted me while I was intoxicated and vulnerable. I will never be the person I used to be.”

She said that the day of the Christmas party, on the evening of Saturday December 10 last year, had “rapidly turned into the worst day of my life”.

It had left her with an “overwhelming feeling of shock, disbelief and numbness”.

Referring to the examination by police medical staff, she said: “I felt disgusted by every inch of my body.”

Eryimaz, of Archers Place, South Street, in Bishop’s Stortford had denied rape but was convicted by the jury. He claimed she had consented.

Police arrested him on Station Road that evening carrying a large suitcase and two bags.

He told the officers: “I have pictures [of us] together. We like each other. We did it.”

At Stevenage police station he told officers: “She was drunk. I was drunk. She had sex with me.”

In a prepared statement he said: “We had consensual sex. We both liked one another. She flirted with me in the restaurant. When I told her she was hot she became excited. She put her arm around me.”

Defence barrister Jennifer Dannhauser said that Eryimaz, who was aided in court by a Turkish interpreter, was of previous good character.

He had worked in the catering industry in Sweden and Norway for 20 years before coming to England in 2022.

At the time of the rape he was seeking sponsorship to remain in the UK. She said that he may now face deportation.

Recorder Sean O’Sullivan KC told Eryimaz: “You either behaved like a predator or perhaps you are an egoist that the limited interaction you had with her persuaded you she wanted to have sex with you.”

He must register as a sex offender for life and abide by the terms of a sexual harm prevention order for 15 years.