Plane Passenger Denies Groping Woman Sitting In Front Of Him

A mum travelling with her two young children had her breast groped by a drunken plane passenger sitting behind her, a court heard yesterday.

“I felt him putting his hand through the gap in the seats and he grabbed my right breast,” she told Isleworth Crown Court.

“On a scale of one to ten it was a five. It was not painful, but it was definitely felt.”

Saranjeet Bassi, 28, of Craiglea, Causewayhead, Stirling, Scotland has pleaded not guilty to sexually assaulting the woman on the Qatar Airways flight to London Heathrow on December 12, last year.

She said Bassi began playing with her eighteen month-old son between the seats just twenty minutes after taking off from Doha, Qatar.

“He said: ‘What a cute child, can I offer him a sweet?’ I said: ’No’ because I could smell alcohol on his breath and did not want anything to do with him.

“It was quite strong. I could smell it on his breath even when not talking to him.”

The woman, who was also travelling with her seven year-old, told the jury she confronted Bassi after being groped.

“I stood up immediately and said: ‘Excuse me, that’s not called for’ and gave him a look of disgust and he just stared at me.”

She complained to cabin crew, but Bassi refused to move, later telling police to do so would be an admission of wrongdoing.

Because she was in a baby seat with a cot the mum had to remain where she was. “I was helpless, upset, I couldn’t do anything about it and had no chance, but to sit there.”

Two hours later she felt further contact from Bassi, she said. “I felt a foot rubbing my foot under the seat.”

Again she complained to the flight crew and the defendant again refused to budge.

“When he was asked to move he became quite rude and aggressive and said he had not done anything wrong and had been asleep all the time.

“I was humiliated, embarrassed and very upset.”

Bassi was arrested at Heathrow. “He denied grabbing her breast and said he was rubbing his foot on the seat in front,” prosecutor Mr. Jonathan Wright told the jury.

“He said he did not move because that would be an admission of wrongdoing.”

Trial continues……………..