Singapore — It may have looked like a classic case of “she said vs he said,” but the judge came down in favour of the woman, and found the man guilty of a molestation charge.

The woman’s identity, as well as which carrier was involved in the incident, has not been disclosed. 

It is also unknown whether the man is still employed by the carrier.

On a flight from Singapore to Manila, Philippines, on May 3, 2019, a stewardess, now 27, who had bent down to assist a passenger was suddenly surprised when the senior flight steward, to whom she immediately reported, smacked her on her right buttock.

As she was in shock, she did not confront the man right away, but upon reaching the galley, she told one of her superiors what the man, who was the highest-ranking cabin crew member on the flight, had done.

She filed a complaint on May 5, 2019, after the plane returned to Singapore.

The court heard that the man apologised to the stewardess during the turnaround flight, telling her he had “no intention to do it”.

However, he could not give a straight answer when she asked him what his intention had been.

And while the man told the court he had merely “tapped” the woman’s buttock in an effort to “correct her posture”, District Judge Ng Peng Hong convicted the man, now 50, of one charge of using criminal force intended to outrage the victim’s modesty.

He will return for sentencing in March. He faces a jail term of up to two years, a fine, caning, or a combination of the three.

Deputy Public Prosecutor Lee Wei Liang said that the incident occurred around half an hour before the plane was due to land in Manila after the captain had asked the cabin crew to get ready for landing.

The stewardess was, at that time, helping a passenger in business class.

In the woman’s words, she was standing near the passenger with her “knees slightly bent, upper body slightly leaning forward… (and) perhaps, tilted a bit towards the chair,” The Straits Times reports.

“The victim recounted that as she was attending to the passenger and standing in the manner described, she felt a ‘smack’ on her right buttock, and her body ‘jolted up’ in reaction to the contact,” said DPP Lee. 

He added that the woman had characterised how he struck her as a “smack” because of the “hard and surprising” contact she felt on her skin.

The senior flight steward also made a comment in a “cheeky or playful manner” on the way the woman stood.

At the trial, the man refuted her version of events, saying he did not touch nor slap her buttocks, but merely “tapped” her after seeing she leaned against a seat and that her buttocks were “protruding” into the aisle.

DPP Lee added, “He described the victim’s posture as ‘provocative’ and claimed to have touched the victim to correct her posture.

“There is no reason why he would admit to something he did not do, when so much was at stake. When confronted with the victim’s allegation in the cockpit, he provided no defence for his actions. This is not the conduct of an innocent person,” TODAY reported the DPP as saying.

/TISG

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