Man, 35, molested SIA stewardess during flight while friends laughed

A man molested and harassed a flight attendant on board a Singapore Airlines flight, including cornering her alone in the galley of the plane.

Akash Tiwari, pleaded guilty to one count each of molestation and harassment, and was sentenced to six months’ jail on Jun. 22.

The 35-year-old Indian national was also ordered to pay compensation of S$1,270.95.

Rowdy group of friends

According to court documents seen by Mothership, Akash was a passenger on the Singapore Airlines flight from Bangkok, Thailand, to Singapore with four friends on Feb. 9.

The group had been observed to be "rowdy and talking loudly", frantically waving and laughing whenever female crew walked past their aisle, the prosecutor said.

Before the flight took off from Bangkok, the victim approached Akash and his group to confirm their meals.

Akash then stretched out his arm to brush against the victim’s left upper thigh while she was speaking to his friend.

This shocked the victim, but Akash and his friends started laughing, the prosecutor said.

The victim told the chief flight stewardess on the flight, who assigned the victim to serve meals in an aisle away from Akash.

Molested victim

After meals were served, the victim was on tray collection duty and pushing the meal cart towards the front of the aircraft.

She was on the side of Akash’s aisle, pushing the meal cart forward with her back facing him.

He then suddenly leaned out of his aisle and swerved his body towards the victim, nudging his left elbow onto the victim’s buttock area.

The shocked victim told Akash not to touch her, but instead of apologising, he smirked.

The victim was even more distressed and repeated to him not to touch her, the prosecutor said.

Akash’s friend, one Jay Shankar, burst out laughing and told the victim he would like to have a beer and watch the “show”.

The victim and the chief flight stewardess later confronted Akash, but he remained unapologetic and insisted he did not do anything wrong.

Cornered her alone

At around that time, the captain announced that the plane was preparing for landing and the victim left for the galley.

Meanwhile, the chief flight stewardess went to see her supervisor and the flight captain to report the molest.

To the victim’s alarm, Akash followed her into the galley, where there was no one else and stood extremely close to her.

The victim was distressed and told him to stay away from her, but Akash persisted, moving even closer and cornering her.

She shouted at him to stay away and to stop following her, but he continued to do so, despite her repeatedly telling him to stay away.

Passengers in the aisle saw what happened, the prosecutor said.

Akash only went away after the victim went to the chief stewardess for help.

By this time, she was in tears and visibly frightened as both her hands were shaking.

The flight captain reported the matter to SIN Hub, an aviation and logistics hub at Changi Airport.

Akash was arrested after the plane landed in Singapore.