A hotel chef who sexually assaulted a male co-worker has escaped jail, but was ordered to pay a $3,000 fine.Indian guest worker Marc Vivian Bungaleea apologised to his victim for the incidents, which occurred between October and December of last year.His lawyer Mark Pettingill told Magistrates’ Court that twisting another man’s nipple and telling him “I want to f**k you” was part of “locker room humour” endemic to kitchens.The 34-year-old Bostock Hill, Paget resident lost his job because of the case and plans to leave Bermuda.Bungaleea is said to have made lewd remarks and demanded sex while twisting his victim’s nipple. The chef said he only realised the extent of the offence when he was arrested in January.His co-worker, who can’t be named for legal reasons, insisted he repeatedly pointed out that the behaviour was offensive and disturbing to him and caused him a great deal of stress.Mr Pettingill argued that if every case of unseemly behaviour involving chefs were prosecuted, “we would need a special court”.“I’m not saying that sometimes those situations don’t cross a line they shouldn’t cross,” he said. “But Mr Bungaleea is not a sexual predator or even a person we would have to be concerned about. The man has an erstwhile perfect record.”Mr Pettingill said Bungaleea had no sexual interest in his victim and was instead “joking about homosexuality”, something that was “commonplace” in a professional kitchen.“He now has the opportunity to go and work another job, and the real concern is how this is going to hold him back, wreck his life, and wreck his professional life,” he said. ”I don’t make this submission very often, but I will urge your Worship, this is an appropriate case for a conditional discharge.”Mr Pettingill added that anyone seeing the individual facts of the case would have “an aha moment”.Responded Magistrate Khamisi Tokunbo: “You keep saying that, but that’s not my sense, and someone who is not a part of that accepted culture is not going to accept that.”Mr Pettingill said a conviction would be a “scarlet letter” that would unfairly brand his client.Bungaleea told the court: “I did not have any intention of harming or hurting anyone’s feelings.”Although unemployed, he said he would be able to pay a fine.In passing sentence, Mr Tokunbo conceded that “in the particular context, culture and situation in which the offence was committed, no harm was intended”.However, he added: “His behaviour was unwelcome and offensive. In law, it amounts to a sexual offence. I accept that this is at the lower end of the scale of sexual offences, but it’s not of a kind in which a conditional discharge would be appropriate or justifiable.”He ordered Bungaleea to pay $3,000 within one week or serve four months’ imprisonment in default.Bungaleea’s victim later told The Royal Gazette: “Justice was served.”He admitted that taking the case to court had been “pretty rough going”, but added: “I’m very glad I did.“That man was totally disrespectful.”He added that coarse humour in kitchens was not unknown.“But first we have to take into consideration that if this thing happened once and the individual showed that he did not approve, that’s one thing. But four times? Come on. I have been in the hotel industry for 40 years.”He continued: “I lost a lot of money on account of that chef. At one stage I could only work four hours a day. That can’t be justified. I have a family to take care of and a lot of expenses that I had to bear until this thing came to an end. Now let him move on.”Asked if he thought the trial had sent a message about inappropriate behaviour, the victim said: “It has to. This behaviour will not be accepted. Stick to preparing the menu and don’t put the human body on the line. It’s not going to be accepted, and there is no way that it can be.”