Posted on 11/08/2006 4:30:13 AM PST by Mrs Ivan
To the women he groped and grunted at, Thomasz Stepniowski's sleazy behaviour was no laughing matter.
But for the 24-year-old Pole it was all perfectly acceptable.
This, he claimed, was because such "cultural naughtiness" is entirely normal in Eastern Europe.
And a court heard the factory worker - dubbed the Polish Borat by neighbours - was even backed by his female interpreter during a police interview.
The case bears a startling resemblance to the sexist antics of the Kazakhstani TV presenter, the main character in comedian Sacha Baron Cohen's hit film.
But wheras Borat's demeaning attitude to women is drawing laughs in cinemas across the UK, Stepnioski's crude assaults landed him in the dock accused of indecency.
The court heard the Pole approached nine women in Weymouth, Dorset, and fondled their breasts or pinched their bottoms while making grunting noises.
After his arrest, he told officers he hadn't realised he was breaking the law because his conduct was normal back home.
His Russian-born interpreter then interrupted the interview to back his claim.
"Eastern European society is much more flirtatious. It is based on mutual admiration and is not breaking respect," stunned officers were told.
"If a person has no aggressive intention usually they can get away with it, even if a female doesn't like it.
"It is not strictly breaking the law and may be cultural naughtiness."
But a spokesman for the Polish Embassy yesterday furiously denied Stepniowski's claim and said indecent assault was against the country's laws.
"It is not normal behaviour," he added.
Stepniowski admitted sexually assaulting four women and asked for another five offences to be taken into consideration when he appeared at Weymouth Magistrates Court on Monday.
The court heard details of four of the attacks, which happened between April and August this year.
His first victim was a 15-year-old schoolgirl who he pushed against a wall before fondling her breasts. In June he touched the chest of a 26-year-old woman as she passed him on a pavement.
Later that month he pinched the bottom of an 18-year-old woman who was walking home from work.
The last incident was on August 27, when he grabbed the breast of a 45-year-old woman and made a "grunting sound".
He was caught after police released CCTV images of him.
Prosecutor Jonathan Kingdon told the court: "The defendant pointed out [to officers] that similar behaviour was not so unacceptable in his homeland."
Chairman of the Bench John Young dismissed his excuses however and, after deciding his sentencing powers were insufficient, sent the case to Dorchester Crown Court where Stepniowski could be jailed for up to ten years.
Cohen shot to fame with his controversial Ali G creation before ruffling even more feathers with misogynistic and racist TV presenter Borat Sagdiyev.
The film - Borat: Cultural Learnings of America for Make Benefit Glorious Nation of Kazakhstan - portrays the nation's people as urine-drinking, women-caging anti-Semites, whose favourite hobbies are "disco-dancing, archery, rape and table tennis".
Released at the weekend, it shot to number one at the box office both here and in the U.S.
After Stepniowski's conviction, a neighbour said: "He has been living here for about a year or so. I didn't realise his grasp of the differences between Britain and Poland was so poor. You could say he is the Polish Borat."
Another added: "Truth really is stranger than fiction. Who'd have thought a real-life Borat was living here in Weymouth?"
Dorset police said all sexual assaults were serious.
Stepniowski, who lives with his girlfriend, moved to Britain in October 2005 and has been working at a factory in Yeovil.
His interpreter was Russian-born Svetlana Purkis, director of the Weymouth-based charity British Eastern European Support for Foreign Prisoners.
Ignorance is no defence.
Back to Poland with you.
Eastern Europe? Hell, I was groped in France, Spain, Germany (by a Greek) and Italy. I loved living in Europe (in the 80s) but that part I didn't miss.
After his arrest, he told officers he hadn't realised he was breaking the law because his conduct was normal back home.He's just being a smartass. He understands Western society well enough to know that people can get away with almost anything by playing the multiculti card.
His interpreter was Russian-born Svetlana Purkis, director of the Weymouth-based charity British Eastern European Support for Foreign Prisoners.I suppose she's just doing her job: Supporting a foreign prisoner…
In the USA we call that child molestation.
And assault.
The women should deck him one ... or mace him heavily in the eyes and claim "It's Just cultural".
You must have missed me around there. I pinched women on the inside of their thigh. Spanish women slap pretty hard, BTW. That is what it takes to get their attention on the Costa del Sol. Cute titties and warm blue water. I only grope when it's very personal. European men run around like they own every women's heart. That is not the way to be nice with a woman you want to love.
Will there now be the "Borat Defense?" I wouldn't be surprised if some lawyers in the US will try it. (cultural sensitivity, and all that!)
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