Daniel Grigg, 37, who was on a business trip to South Africa, consumed beer, wine and a Bloody Mary cocktail, boasting to the woman: “I get paid to drink,” the jury were told.
The 35 year-old complainant told Isleworth Crown Court from behind a screen: “I was trying to get some rest and turned my back and I felt a hand tickling me on my leg and thigh.
“It was the top of my thigh area and then the hand went under my blanket. I did not think it was happening at first.
“He was tickling and rubbing my leg and then it was like a groping. He knew where his hand wanted to go.”
Grigg, of Gorringe Road, Salisbury, Wiltshire - boss of Museum Wines, Tarrant Hinton, Dorset - has pleaded not guilty to one count of sexual assault on January 15, last year.
A three-time winner of the Decanter Awards Best Specialist Retailer South Africa and the International Wine Challenge South African Specialist of the Year, Grigg was seated next to the woman for the twelve-hour flight.
The multiple texts she sent her husband during the flight were shown to the jury which read: “The bloke next to me is pissed.” “He is doing my head in.” “This bloke next to me is virtually lying on me.”
She told the trial: “He made an odd comment that he was glad that I did not stink and that he was not sitting next to someone smelly and that he was glad he was sitting in that seat, having booked last minute.”
Grigg watched as she face-timed her 18 month-old daughter and he talked about his five month-old twin boys.
“He was very friendly and chatty and told me he was in the wine industry and that he got paid to drink.
“He smelled, he smelled of alcohol. He had been drinking a lot of alcohol and his behaviour changed and he was making odd comments.”
Grigg says he had no more than four alcoholic drinks during the flight and his chatting was merely “light-hearted and jovial.”
“He was shouting and the passengers were telling him to be quiet. The lights were off and the meal service was over,” added the woman.
“His demeanour really changed from the person who got on the flight. I told him to be quiet because people were sleeping and he said he did not care.
“When I came back from the toilet he said: ‘Where have you been?’ as if I belonged to him and asked what was the craziest thing I had ever done.
“The cabin crew told me to put my earphones in and ignore him and I turned my back on him to discourage him.
“I have a blanket with a picture of my daughter on it that I carry everywhere and he said: ‘Isn’t an economy blanket good enough for you?’
“His hand went around me and I just shot up and woke the lady next to me and went to the back cabin. It made me want to get off the plane, but I was stuck on the aircraft.”
She told the jury the touching was over her clothing, with Grigg’s hand moving below her stomach after tickling her thigh and leg.
“I went to the galley and I burst into tears and then he came to the galley for more alcohol and was told because of the incident he would not be served any more.”
She was moved to another seat at the rear of the plane. “I put the blanket over my head so he wouldn’t see me.”
A BA colleague advised her it would not be worth reporting Grigg to the local South African police. “I watched a man leave the aircraft after assaulting me and nothing had been done.”
She immediately filed an Air Incident Report and told her union what happened.
The BA employee denied a defence suggestion she was “disenchanted” with her role, due to the time spent away from her daughter. “I do like my job, I love my job.”
Grigg’s lawyer Hannah Beer also suggested she was unhappy about being seated in economy. “Everyone would prefer Business Class, but we have to take what we are given.”
She denied recommending Grigg try a Bloody Mary, but did agree she did not eat her airline meal and texted her husband: “The food was disgusting.”
Grigg’s lawyer also asked if she was angry about fellow-cabin crew not bringing her food from Business Class. “No, I would get into trouble if I ordered a meal from Business Class.”
The defence say the woman gave different accounts of the incident to different people.
Trial continues…………
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