Jail for man who molested stewardess on board plane

A quality assurance engineer who molested a stewardess on board a Singapore-bound Scoot flight from Cochin, India, was sentenced yesterday to four months' jail.

Indian national Vijayan Mathan Gopal, 39, who was working in Singapore, has since lost his job.

Reeking of alcohol when he boarded the flight in November 2017, the Singapore permanent resident outraged the woman's modesty by touching her buttock, placing his hand on her right thigh and cupping her face with his hands.

After a trial, District Judge Salina Ishak found him guilty of three molestation charges last month. He committed the offences between 4am and 8.14am on Nov 2, 2017.

In sentencing Vijayan yesterday, the judge said air travel is "a high-pressure environment", with no ready means of escape for the molestation victim. However, she noted that "no intrusion of private parts" was involved in the case.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Jane Lim had said in her submissions that following take-off, Vijayan had had an argument with another crew member, as he had refused to pay after ordering food and red wine.

DPP Lim said it was the carrier's policy to collect payment before heating up its passengers' orders.

The stewardess, who cannot be named owing to a gag order, stepped in to defuse the situation and agreed to serve Vijayan his order before he paid for it.

Following this, he continued to demand her attention by repeatedly pressing the call button even though she had to attend to another passenger who was feeling faint. Her colleague tried to attend to Vijayan but he insisted on talking to "that female steward".

The DPP said: "According to the victim, the situation was 'very urgent' as there was a medical emergency that required her to page for medical assistance... and a drunk passenger who required her attention.

"After a nurse (who was a passenger) came forward to assist in the medical emergency, the victim attended to the accused.

"She knelt down to be at his eye level, placed her arm on the arm rest and told the accused firmly not to press the call light again."

The court heard that Vijayan then told the woman she was "so beautiful" and molested her.

The stewardess told the plane captain what happened and asked him to alert the airport police. She later submitted a report to Scoot about the incident.

Defence lawyer Ramesh Selvaraj told the court yesterday that his client intends to appeal against the conviction. Vijayan was then offered bail of $15,000.

For each count of molestation, he could have been jailed for up to two years and fined or caned.