SINGAPORE, Sept 27 — A 39-year-old man who harassed and touched the buttock of a flight attendant during his flight from Cochin, India to Singapore was sentenced to four months’ jail today.

Vijayan Mathan Gopal, an Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, was found guilty last month of three charges of molesting the Scoot stewardess on November 2, 2017. 

The victim was 22 at the time and the cabin crew-in-charge of the flight. She cannot be named due to a gag order to protect her identity. 

During a six-day trial, the victim testified that Vijayan had held her right hand and stroked her face while saying: "You are so beautiful.” 

He then cupped her face, put his hand on her thigh and touched her buttock, in full view of two others.

Vijayan’s lawyer, Ramesh Selvaraj from Allen & Gledhill, told District Judge Salina Ishak that he will be appealing against his conviction. Vijayan was offered bail of S$15,000 (RM45,450) and his travel documents were not returned to him.

The former quality assurance engineer in the oil and gas industry lost his job after being arrested and his family are all in India, Deputy Public Prosecutor Jane Lim told the court in arguing for his original bail amount of S$5,000 to be increased.

In mitigation, Ramesh said that it was Vijayan’s first offence and that he was well-regarded by his colleagues, who wrote testimonials about his "good character”. 

Vijayan has worked in Singapore since 2004, Ramesh added, while asking for no more than three-and-a-half months’ jail.

For each charge of using criminal force to outrage the victim’s modesty under the Penal Code, read with the Tokyo Convention Act, he could be jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or any combination of the three.

Under the Tokyo Convention Act, if a crime takes place on a Singapore-controlled aircraft flying outside of the country, the offender can be charged for the offence under Singapore laws.

What happened

The victim had testified that Vijayan reeked of alcohol and his pants were unzipped when he boarded the flight.

He appeared intoxicated but was able to walk to his seat, listen to the victim and give her his boarding pass, she said.

After arguing with the victim’s colleague over payment for food, Vijayan told the victim that he wanted to complain about the colleague.

He also pressed the call button several times to order more alcohol, but when a male flight attendant went to him, Vijayan asked to speak to "that female steward”.

The attendant then told the victim that Vijayan was looking for her, and warned that he was slurring and appeared to be drunk.

The victim went to him, knelt down to his eye level and told him firmly not to press the call button again. 

When Vijayan repeated his desire to complain about her colleague, she wrote down her own name, the other woman’s name and their staff numbers for him on an air sickness bag.

At that point, he suddenly asked her where she lived, then touched her face with both his hands.

Angered, she raised her voice, to which he replied: "Do not throw your anger at me” and "I’m the boss of the flight”.

As she tried to stand up, he continued holding on to her arm. He then put his hand on her right thigh, and when she finally managed to get up, she turned around and felt his palm on her buttock.

The victim’s colleague and another passenger sitting behind Vijayan confirmed that they saw what he had done too.

After being arrested and charged, Vijyan claimed trial to his offences and denied committing them. 

He also claimed that the victim and her colleague had fabricated the incident to prevent his complaint about the latter’s "poor service” from surfacing. — TODAY