A self-confessed ‘scumbag’ hotel boss is facing up to five years in jail for sexually assaulting two of his female staff.
‘Ex-army’ Gary Adam, 35, ‘used his power as the boss’ to intimidate and sexually assault two women, one of whom he told he would ‘snap like a twig’.
The father-of-one attacked an 18-year-old university student working as a waitress and a 23-year-old barmaid, Falkirk Sheriff Court was told.
The women worked at Waverley and Crags hotels that were both co-owned by Adam and opposite each other in the main street of the Scottish tourist town of Callander, Perthshire.
Gary Adam, 35, (pictured) faces up to five years in jail after intimidating and sexually assaulting two women
Jurors heard the 18-year-old had been working for Adam for only a week when he made a pass at her while she was in another local pub playing pool.
When she went into work on December 8, 2019, she told him she ‘didn’t want to lose her job, or have sex with him’.
Within hours, however, he asked her into the office at the Waverley Hotel on the ‘ruse’ that she needed a new uniform T-shirt, pushed her against a wall, put his hand ‘quite tightly’ round her neck, kissed her forcibly on the lips, and tried to put his hand down the front of her jeans.
The woman told jurors he was ‘growling or grunting’ in her ear and said he would ‘snap her like a twig’.
She said: ‘He’s quite strong, ex-Army, and I’m five foot three.’
She said on an earlier occasion he had snapped a pool cue in front of her.
She left ‘in shock and disbelief’ but later that night Adam sexually assaulted her again, ‘touching her bum’ in a darkened hotel kitchen as she bent over to get cutlery.
The next day she gave her two weeks’ notice.
The court heard Adam also sexually assaulted a 23-year-old woman repeatedly in January 2020 while she was working at the Crags Hotel.
The ‘ex-army’ father-of-one attacked a university student working as a waitress, 18, and a barmaid, 23
Weeping, she said he had followed her into a walk-in cupboard where she fetching juice, locked the door behind them and pinned her ‘forcibly’ against the wall with two hands on her shoulders as he tried to kiss her.
She said she was ‘frozen’ and ‘scared’ and didn’t know what to do.
She was only able to leave when a customer called from the bar.
Later Adam, who had earlier been drinking with friends, returned alone and ‘a bit more drunk’ and asked her for the key to one of the hotel bedrooms.
He then texted a demand that she deliver a Peroni beer to the bedroom.
After she left it outside he opened the door, grabbed her wrist, and ‘dragged’ her in, pushing her back onto the bed.
There, he held her arms above her head and tried to kiss her. He also took her phone.
She said she ‘just kept saying no’ and eventually he told her to go back to the bar but refused to return her phone.
When he gave it back later, the text message asking her to take beer to his room had been deleted.
He described himself in evidence as ‘a scumbag’ for cheating on his own partner but denied the charges
The court heard Adam later told the woman ‘it would never happen again’.
Just three weeks later after finishing her shift at the Crags she went over to the Waverley to see some friends when Adam asked her if she would give him a lift back to his home on the outskirts of Callander in her Renault Clio.
She thought it awkward if she refused but on the short drive he immediately asked her if she would stay with him in one of the hotel rooms.
When she turned him down, he demanded she stop and let him out.
Before she had even had a chance to turn off the engine he climbed over, sat on top of her, forced her head back, and forced her mouth open with his hand.
She said: ‘He managed to get it open and put his tongue down my throat. I just sat there. I didn’t know what to do.
‘He put his hand in my leggings and under my underwear.
‘His fingers touched my private area. They didn’t go inside, but they were very close to.’
‘Scared and disgusted’, the woman managed to call a random number on her phone, and when Adam realised he stopped and asked to be driven the rest of the way home.
After a three-day trial, the jury found father-of-one Adam, a first offender, of Cambusmore, Callander, guilty of five charges of sexually assaulting the women.
After a three-day trial, the jury found father-of-one Adam, a first offender, of Cambusmore, Callander, guilty of five charges of sexually assaulting the women
He described himself in evidence as ‘a scumbag’ for cheating on his own partner, but denied the offences, claiming that in some cases what the women had said did not happen, and when it had happened, it was with consent.
Prosecutor Cheryl Clark said Adam had perpetrated ‘a pattern of systematic abuse against the two young women, engineered situations to be alone with them, and used fear, intimidation, physical strength, and his powerful role as their employer to manipulate the situation’.
Sheriff Christopher Shead continued bail for reports, placed Adam on the sex offenders’ register, and warned a custodial sentence would be considered.
Adam will appear again on March 31.
