‘Frightened’ takeaway owner wants to leave Liverpool after ‘racist attack’

The local business owner has only had his takeaway for six months and said he was just trying to support his wife

A takeaway owner who set up his business in Liverpool six months ago says he is “scared” after an alleged incident at his shop. The owner of Torino’s takeaway, who did not want to be named for fear of reprisal, claims he was racially abused and his shop vandalized.

Merseyside Police were called to the alleged incident on Stanley Road in Kirkdale on December 27 after the takeaway owner made a report.

A man was arrested by police at the scene. After the alleged incident, the Sri Lankan takeaway owner spoke to the ECHO about how scared he was.

He said: “I just work here for 12 hours all day, that’s my business, I have to deal with it. I work alone and it’s just me and my wife here, we’re scared. I’m scared.” . I used to live in London and things happen, but after that I don’t want to move back to London.

The diner’s owner was visibly shaken as he described the alleged incident, explaining that since purchasing the business he has “worked every day to provide for himself and his wife” but is now afraid of what could happen. However, he claims that after the alleged incident, a good Samaritan came and offered to pay for the damage caused to the countertop.

Merseyside Police confirmed a man has been charged in connection with the attack. Sebastian Kulik, aged 34, of Daisy Street, Kirkdale, was charged with eight offences:

• A case of racially/religiously reinforced fear/provocation of violence through words
• In one case, threatening/abusive/insulting words or behavior were used with the intent to incite/provoke fear of unlawful violence
• Two counts of criminal damage
• Triple assault on an emergency services worker
• One count of obstructing/resisting a police officer in the performance of his duty

He was remanded in custody to appear at Liverpool Magistrates Court on Monday, December 30. Detective Chief Inspector Ben Wayment said: “We will not tolerate acts of hate motivated by hate against anyone anywhere on Merseyside.”

“We treat all reports of hate crimes with compassion and sensitivity and act on all information to bring perpetrators to justice. I would encourage anyone who has been a victim of or witnessed a hate crime to contact us. Our officers come to work every day to protect the people of Merseyside and acts of violence against them while trying to keep others safe is simply never acceptable.”

If you have any information about hate crime, please contact Merseyside Police’s social media desk via X @MerPolCC. You can also call 101 or contact the independent charity Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 or via their online form at https://crimestoppers-uk.org/give-information/give-information.

If for any reason you do not wish to report a hate crime to the police, independent charity Stop Hate UK offers a 24-hour confidential hotline for all hate crime victims on 0800 138 1625 or www.stophateuk.org. You can also download the Stop Hate UK reporting app from Google Play or the Apple App Store.