The former owner of a Chinese takeaway breached for “deplorable” violations of food laws was clearly incapable of managing an eatery, a magistrate has said.

But Simon Tu has escaped a fine after his lawyer said he had absolutely no capacity to pay off any financial punishment the court might mete out.

The Canberra Times reports that Magistrate Peter Dingwall on Wednesday said the 59-year-old’s kitchen-hand experience failed to prepare him for the realities of running a commercial kitchen.

He convicted Tu, who has little education or English, for two breaches of the Food Act and placed him on an 18-month good-behaviour order.

Health authorities shut down the Hong Kong Inn in Holt in March last year after inspectors decided a prohibition order was needed to “prevent or mitigate a serious danger to public health”.

Raw meat was stored above sauces and vegetables, posing a contamination risk, and the kitchen surfaces were covered in “extensive contamination” including dirt and grease.

Food was badly stored, uncovered and in dirty ice cream containers.

The floor was covered in debris and grease; utensils posed “a high risk of physical, microbial and chemical contamination”.

And the staff wash-basin was cluttered, had no soap and wasn’t connected to warm running water.

The eatery was shut down for about six weeks until health authorities lifted the prohibition notice.

By the time he received the all clear Tu’s lease on the premises expired and he had walked away from the business.