A drunken plane passenger, returning to Scotland after visiting his new-born baby in India, has been sentenced for groping the breast of a mum travelling with her two young children.
Father-of-three Saranjeet Bassi, 29, reached between the gap in the seats in front of him to squeeze the woman during the flight from Qatar to Heathrow.
“I feel what he did was sexual, the grabbing of my boob,” she said in a victim impact statement. “I have a mix of emotions, I was angry and wanted him off the flight.
“I was with my kids and it makes me feel sick and violated. He took advantage and I don’t want him to do this to anyone else.”
Bassi, of Craiglea, Causewayhead, Stirling, was convicted of sexually assaulting the woman on the Qatar Airways flight on December 12, last year.
Bassi turned to alcohol after his mother, Gurmit Bassi, 52, was convicted at Glasgow’s High Court of murdering his restauranteur father’s new pregnant wife in 1998.
He was sentenced to a two-year community order and ordered to complete 200 hours community service and pay £1,000 costs.
Bassi must also attend at least 100 days of a probation-service ordered rehabilitation activity requirement, which includes an alcohol treatment requirement.
Isleworth Crown Court heard Bassi was convicted of exposing himself in 2014 and playing with himself in front of two women.
“Alcohol seems to have played a part and this was a consequence of having consumed too much and the abuse of alcohol that has played a part in his life up until now,” said Mr. Matthew Pardoe, defending.
“He is not a daily drinker, but a binge drinker and now says he has stopped completely.
“He is very scared about the prospect of going to prison.
“It was a journey both to see his new-born child, who is under a year old and to secure that child a British passport.”
Recorder Stephen Bellamy-James QC said: “It would be more impressive if he was going to Alcoholics Anonymous and going through the twelve steps.
“This is a pretty bizarre case in any event. The alcohol problem he’s got not only disinhibits him, but makes him unaware of what he’s doing.
“If he is not careful he is going to end up in custody for a long time.
“It is a strange and bizarre incident that I accept has caused upset and trauma to the victim on the plane.”
The judge told Bassi: “You drank quite a lot of alcohol, probably doubles, on the plane from India to Doha and then more while waiting for your connecting flight.
“You had a troubled upbringing and were placed in psychiatric wards and foster care by your mother and you were taunted and bullied in childhood.
“You took to drinking as a teenager to cope with the problems of your childhood.
“You do need help with your alcohol addiction and mental health. You have a last opportunity to try and reform your behaviour and conduct.”
Bassi was also ordered to sign the sex offenders register for five years.
He fought the case and the victim told the jury: “I felt him putting his hand through the gap in the seats and he grabbed my right breast.
“On a scale of one to ten it was a five. It was not painful, but it was definitely felt.”
She said Bassi began playing with her eighteen month-old son between the seats just twenty minutes after taking off.
“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.”
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