Mohammed Zaman is accused of manslaughter after Paul Wilson suffered an anaphylactic shock from a curry he ordered as peanut-free.
13:56, UK,Monday 09 May 2016
The owner of an Indian restaurant "put profit before safety" by failing to warn customers with allergies that he was using peanut ingredients, a court has heard.
Mohammed Zaman is accused of manslaughter after a customer with a severe peanut allergy died after eating a curry from his takeaway - even though the diner had insisted his meal must be nut-free.
Paul Wilson suffered a severe anaphylactic shock after ordering the meal from the Indian Garden restaurant in North Yorkshire.
The 38-year-old was found dead by a flatmate at their home, and when police began to investigate his death, they discovered "no nuts" had been written on the lid of his curry - as well as on the order slip back at the restaurant.
A prosecutor told Teesside Crown Court that Zaman had a "reckless and cavalier attitude to risk" and had been warned by a trading standards officer to change his business' practices only a week before Mr Wilson died in January 2014.
The court was also told that, in the weeks before his death, a teenage girl had been treated in hospital for an allergic reaction caused by the peanuts in a curry ordered from another restaurant owned by Zaman.
She had been assured by the restaurant's staff that her meal would be free of nuts, the jury heard.
Richard Wright QC, prosecuting, said Zaman had swapped from using almond powder to cheaper groundnut powder, which contains peanuts, in June 2013.
Mr Wright added: "Mohammed Zaman received numerous warnings that he was putting his customers' health, and potentially their lives, at risk.
"Tragically for Paul Wilson, Mohammed Zaman took none of those opportunities and ignored all the warnings he was given.
"The evidence will establish that Mohammed Zaman put profit before safety and that he cut corners at every turn."
Zaman, from Huntington in York, denies manslaughter by gross negligence, perverting the course of justice, and six food safety offences. The trial continues.
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