Sweet India factory director Gotham Modem fined in court for safety breaches

A Melbourne dessert shop director has ended the week on a sour note after he flouted safety warnings right up until the bitter end.

Werribee Court building. Picture: Josie Hayden

The director of a popular Indian dessert shop has been hit with a hefty fine after he repeatedly flouted safety warnings.

Goutham Modem, who runs the Sweet India factory at Hoppers Crossing, was fined $2000 at Werribee Magistrates’ Court after he pleaded guilty to breaching the Gas Safety Act.

The court heard Mr Modem repeatedly flouted improvement notices and failed to keep the factory’s gas equipment safe.

Hoppers Crossing’s Sweet India factory has been fined. File image.

An inspector from Energy Safe Victoria first visited the factory and identified numerous ways it fell below gas safety standards in January 2023.

Over the next few months the inspector made several follow-up visits, each time finding several issues had not been addressed.

In court, Magistrate Adriano Serratore said Mr Modem had several opportunities to comply with the improvement notice but chose to do nothing about it.

Mr Serratore told the court a message needed to be sent that this type of offending was not acceptable and placed community safety at risk.

Mr Modem would have received a much higher fine than $2000 if he had not entered an early guilty plea, the court heard.