Man convicted of molesting Scoot Air stewardess during flight from India to Singapore
SINGAPORE — A man was found guilty on Monday (5 August) of molesting a Scoot Air stewardess while on board a flight from India to Singapore.
Vijayan Mathan Gopal, a 39-year-old Singapore permanent resident, had claimed trial to three charges of molesting the then 22-year-old stewardess on 2 November 2017.
The Indian national was convicted of holding her right arm, touching her face, cupping her face with his hands, placing his hand on the victim’s right thigh, and touching her buttock with his hand.
The victim, now 24, was the crew member in charge of the Scoot flight from Cochin, India, to Singapore. She cannot be named to protect her identity.
According to the victim, Vijayan, who was the last passenger to board the flight, smelled strongly of alcohol when he boarded and his pants were unzipped.
Shortly after the plane took off, Vijayan, who was in an aisle seat, got into a dispute with another air stewardess as he refused to pay for his order of food and wine before it was served.
The victim noted that Vijayan was angry and wanted to make a complaint about her co-worker. She relented and agreed to serve his food before payment. She instructed her co-worker to serve his food and apologise to Vijayan.
However, when the order was served, Vijayan refused to have it. An air steward was later instructed to serve the food and Vijayan accepted it.
After the food was served, Vijayan pressed the call button to ask for alcohol. He later continued to press the call button repeatedly and requested to talk to the victim, who was then attending to another passenger who was feeling unwell.
The victim later attended to Vijayan. She knelt down to his eye level, placed her arm on the arm rest and told Vijayan firmly not to press the call button again, said Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Jane Lim.
After Vijayan said he wanted to complain about the victim's co-worker again, the victim wrote her and her co-worker's names and their staff numbers for him.
Vijayan then asked the victim where she lived before holding her right hand and stroking her face from forehead to chin. He told her, “You are so beautiful”, before cupping her face, according to the victim's testimony.
The victim said she felt "angry, uncomfortable and very disgusted" but could not push him away because he was a passenger, said DPP Lim.
She leaned back and raised her voice saying “sir, sir, sir”, but Vijayan replied, “Do not throw your anger at me” and “I’m the boss of the flight”.
She tried to stand up but Vijayan held onto her right arm. When she tried again, Vijayan put his hand on her right thigh with force.
After the victim managed to stand up and turn around, she felt the man touch her buttocks. The exchange was witnessed by her co-worker and another passenger.
The victim reported the incident to the captain, and lodged a report with Scoot.
During the trial, Vijayan denied committing the acts and claimed that the incident was fabricated by the victim and her co-worker to suppress his complaint against the co-worker for poor service. He tendered a portion of the air sickness bag with the victim’s and her co-worker's particulars, and images of the passenger feedback form as evidence.
Vijayan will be sentenced on 28 August.
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