A drunken yob has been found guilty of sexually assaulting a new mother on a seven-hour Emirates flight from Dubai to London Heathrow after he rammed a cart into a flight attendant and assaulted two other crew members.
Tarlok Singh, 54, began his drunken rampage after he started shouting at other passengers and refused to sit down despite repeated warnings from a cabin supervisor.
Prosecutor Emily Timcke told Ealing Magistrates Court how Singh then tried to get to the back of the aircraft but was blocked by a flight attendant who was trying to serve passengers meals from a cart.
Singh pushed the crew member twice in the back as he tried to get past and then kicked the cabin supervisor in the back of the leg as he tried to get Singh to sit back down.
He then pushed the cart into another crew member, trapping her foot under the cart, causing pain and reddening before the flight attendants intervened and restrained him with zip ties for the rest of the flight to London.
Singh then allegedly turned his attention to a new mother travelling alone for the first time with her baby. He lent over the victim and her baby and initially tryied to pull a dummy out of her child’s mouth before rubbing the mother’s breasts twice.
“I saw him walking up and down. He was screaming and shouting and running and I saw a few people following him,” the victim told the court. “He seemed really drunk and he couldn’t stand still. He didn’t have any balance, he couldn’t stand straight.”
“I didn’t want him to hit me – I didn’t know how he would behave if I asked him to stop,” the victim continued during her emotional testimony. “I felt really distressed and really scared and was really traumatised.”
Singh’s lawyer pushed the victim on whether she believed Singh’s assault was sexual in nature. He told the court that Singh wasn’t a sexual predator but “a silly man who had too many drinks”.
Singh admitted to three counts of assault, failing to obey the lawful commands of a pilot and interfering with an aircraft crew member’s duty during the January 19 flight. He denied the charge of sexual assault, but magistrates found him guilty in his absence after Singh failed to show up in court for the trial.
When contacted by the court, Singh claimed he was in bed due to a backache sustained from working in a lighthouse two decades ago. A warrant has been issued for his arrest, and he is due to be sentenced at a later date.
