By Bob Mackin | Prince George Citizen
A Mackenzie restaurant proprietor who was charged with sexual assault denied all the allegations in Prince George provincial court on Friday, Feb. 7.
Sotirios “Sam” Tourloukis testified in his defence before Judge David Simpkin that none of the incidents described by the woman on the first day of the trial happened.
“Never, never,” Tourloukis repeatedly answered when asked if he had acted without consent to kiss the woman, touch her bottom and grope her vagina.
“Always, I treat people with respect,” Tourloukis said.
Tourloukis said he had been in the restaurant industry all his life. He operated Sam’s Family Restaurant from 2019 until 2023, but closed down after the landlord decided to double rent from $2,000 to $4,000 a month.
“That’s my main concern, look after the customers, serve good food and be part of the community, because Mackenzie is a small town, not very big, you know,” Tourloukis said in court. “So everybody knew me there, had good relations with everybody there.”
Tourloukis said the woman had greeted him with a hug in front of customers and he told her that made him feel uncomfortable.
The woman testified Thursday, Feb. 6 that Tourloukis had asked her for a back massage in January 2023 and, while she was behind him, Tourloukis reached around his back and touched her vagina.
“Never happened, never, never, never,” he said. “I swear on my mum’s grave, never happened.”
Instead, Tourloukis told the court that he did remember asking a male worker to apply Rub-A535 on his back, because he sometimes suffers pain when lifting heavy items.
The woman also testified that Tourloukis had found the incident humorous and compared it to when he had touched male friends in the groin area. Tourloukis also denied saying that to her and denied touching a male friend in the crotch.
“Please, no, never in my life,” he said with a laugh.
Crown prosecutor Denise Payne asked why it made him laugh.
“Because that would be weird, right?” Payne said.
“Of course, I didn’t grab that way,” he said.
A date for closing arguments is to be scheduled.
