SINGAPORE, Oct 16 — The High Court today dismissed an appeal filed by a 40-year-old man against his conviction for molesting a stewardess on his Scoot flight from Cochin, India to Singapore.

Vijayan Mathan Gopal, an Indian national and Singapore permanent resident, was jailed four months in September last year.

Justice Aedit Abdullah said that despite Vijayan’s lawyer’s “best efforts”, the prosecution’s evidence proved that he had committed the offences, and any inconsistencies were not sufficient to raise reasonable doubt.

Vijayan had remained out on bail pending his appeal.

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He told the court through his lawyer, Mr Ramesh Selvaraj from Allen & Gledhill, that he will begin serving his sentence immediately.

The former quality assurance engineer in the oil and gas industry began working in Singapore in 2004. He was found guilty of three charges of molesting the stewardess on low-cost carrier Scoot on November 2, 2017. He lost his job after he was arrested.

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

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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 other people.

The victim 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.

Later, he suddenly asked her where she lived and 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 onto 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.

During the trial at the State Courts, Vijayan claimed that the victim and her colleague had fabricated the incident to prevent his complaint about the colleague’s “poor service” from surfacing.

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 have been jailed 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 with the offence under Singapore laws. — TODAY