TikTok chef Abhishesh Bista charged with sexual assault, in Rockhampton court

A Queensland chef with more than 67,000 TikTok followers is accused of attempting to “seduce” teen girls and sexually assaulting them, a court has heard.

Rockhampton chef and business owner Abhishesh Bista is accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls.

A Central Queensland chef with tens of thousands of TikTok followers is accused of sexually assaulting teenage girls, a court heard.

Abhishesh Bista, 27, has been charged with two counts of sexual assault, three of indecent treatment of a child aged under 16, two of indecent treatment of a child under 15 (permit).

Mr Bista’s lawyers made an application in Rockhampton District Court this week to run three separate trials testing the allegations of three complainants aged 14 to 15, the court heard.

In handing down his decision about the application, Judge Jeff Clarke said Mr Bista, who was also part-time owner of a business, had allegedly kissed, fondled and had “other sexual contact with girls who all have a similar age...over the same period of time”.

“The defendant is alleged to have engaged in similar grooming behaviour,” he said.

“To attempt to seduce the girls.

“An unusual feature is the risk the defendant took to (allegedly) offend when there were [others around].”

Judge Clarke dismissed the application to sever the allegations into separate trials, saying appropriate jury direction would deal with prejudice issues that could arise from having multiple complainants as raised in the defence’s application.

Mr Bista’s case will be next mentioned Wednesday, June 12, with a prerecording scheduled for August 5.

Originally published as TikTok chef Abhishesh Bista charged with sexual assault, in Rockhampton court