A restaurant manager killed a chef in their workplace after a row erupted over a takeaway order for tandoori chicken.
Hidayet Ozden fatally assaulted Shahzad Ali Shah after the cook queried whether the spiced meat was to be on the bone or not and told him they needed to call the customer.
The High Court in Edinburgh that there had been simmering tension between the two friends with accusations by each that the other was not working hard enough.
At one stage during the attack Ozden told his victim: “I brought you here and you don’t do any work.” Mr Shah was suffering from a serious undiagnosed heart condition.
Ozden, 53, repeatedly punched the chef and told him: “I’ll kill you bastard.” Others managed to restrain him but then realised Mr Shah had started to go limp only seconds after receiving the string of blows to his head.
The attack was largely caught on camera at the Mirchi Indian Cuisine restaurant, in The Square, Mintlaw, in Aberdeenshire, and footage was shown to a judge today.
First offender Ozden, of Gairdoch Street, Falkirk, in Stirlingshire, admitted the culpable homicide of father-of-three Mr Shah, 56. He was originally charged with murdering his Pakistani-born workmate, who was living in Mintlaw.
He pled guilty to killing the victim on April 11 this year by repeatedly pushing him, slapping and butting him on the head, striking him with an implement, grabbing him by the neck and repeatedly punching him.
Advocate depute David Taylor said the men had worked together at various takeaways before moving to take up posts at the Mintlaw restaurant.
“They have been described by witnesses as being very friendly towards each other and great friends,” said the prosecutor.
He added: “However, there does also appear to have been a background of tension between the two in the time leading up to the events.”
Ozden had hoped that the chef would open a new takeaway with him, but Mr Shah decided not to get involved and was planning his own venture in Kirkcaldy.
On the day of the killing Ozden had taken an order over the phone, which included tandoori chicken. Mr Shah asked whether it was to be on or off the bone.
Mr Taylor said: “The accused said that it made no difference. The deceased however told the accused that they needed to contact the customer to check what the correct order was. The accused then stated ‘what’s your problem’ and an argument began between the two men.”
Ozden pushed the chef backwards and another employee, Khalid Hussain, intervened to protect him and asked them to stop rowing.
The manager took the written food order from Mr Shah and gestured with it and put it up to his face, while the chef continued to ask him to call the customer to confirm how they wanted their chicken.
Ozden walked out the kitchen after raising his arms in frustration but returned seconds later by which time Mr Shah was standing at a hob with a frying pan. He pushed Mr Shah again, left, returned and pushed him again.
After returning again Ozden slapped the victim and Mr Shah picked up a pot and during a struggle the chef hit his attacker with it. At one point he hit him so hard with the pot that the handle detached from it.
Mr Hussain realised that the trouble was escalating and left to get his boss, Shahid Ali. Ozden punched his victim and took the pot handle from him and struck the chef on the head and body with the makeshift weapon. He also forcibly grabbed the cook by the neck and pushed him against a wall.
Mr Taylor said both men are seen in footage to have wounds to their heads which were bleeding. Mr Ali arrived and asked the victim if he needed a doctor but he said he was fine.
The prosecutor said: “Ozden then started shouting aggressively in an animated manner, at the deceased: “I brought you here and you don’t do any work, you just sit there.”
Mr Shah appeared to be in shock and Ozden was told to leave, but returned a minute or so later and renewed his attack on his victim who was left apparently unconscious and looking lifeless.
Efforts were made to summon help for the victim and Ozden also went to his aid assisting with mouth-to-mouth resuscitation.
Ozden told a police officer that he had been involved in an argument with the dead man who had struck him with a frying pan after a row about a food order.
Mr Taylor said Mr Shah was subsequently discovered to have “significant coronary heart disease”. Pathologists said that the stress and trauma of a sustained assault were a recognised cause of increased heart rate and blood pressure which can lead to cardiac arrhythmia which would explain the victim’s sudden collapse.
Defence counsel Ian Duguid QC said Ozden was “very remorseful about what took place and very sorry for the death of his friend”.
He told the court that Mr Shah’s heart simply could not cope with what had occurred. “It is a very sad situation,” he added.
Mr Duguid said: “They had been friends for a number of years and the accused was instrumental in getting the deceased his job.!
He said the argument had arisen between the friends “over something as insignificant as a food order”.
But Mr Duguid said that appeared to lie behind their disagreement was Mr Shah’s ill-health which had left Ozden complaining that he was not pulling his weight on the job.
The defence counsel said the victim had suffered at least one significant heart attack but was not receiving heart medication.
Judge Graham Buchanan QC deferred sentence on Ozden for the preparation of a background report and agreed to a defence motion to continue his bail.
