Senior cabin crew member gets more jail time for molesting second stewardess

SINGAPORE — Several months after being jailed for molesting his junior cabin crew colleague, a 51-year-old man was sentenced on Monday (June 20) to another three weeks behind bars for molesting a second stewardess.

He had slapped both women’s buttocks on separate flights. The second victim made a police report upon hearing about the first incident.

The Singaporean steward, who was the highest-ranked cabin crew member on board both flights, cannot be named due to a court order to protect the victims' identities.

On Monday, he pleaded guilty to one charge of molesting the second victim in 2018. She was aged 31 at the time.

His sentence came on top of the five weeks’ jail he received in March. Back then, he was convicted after claiming trial to another charge of molesting the first victim in 2019.

The court heard on Monday that for the 2018 case, he was employed as an in-flight manager at the time.

He and the victim were working on board a flight from Singapore to the city of Amsterdam in the Netherlands. It departed close to midnight on Nov 25, 2018.

As the highest-ranked cabin crew member, he was tasked with supervising the other cabin crew members under his charge and ensuring service standards on board the flight. The victim reported to him.

After the pilots made an announcement for the cabin crew to prepare the flight for landing, the victim entered the galley area of the business class cabin to retrieve a pair of shoes.

The accused then talked to her about her husband, who was a pilot on the flight.

Shortly after, she walked past him in the galley. He then slapped her buttock over her clothes without her consent.

Shocked and unsure of how to handle the situation, she did not confront him but continued with her duties instead.

She also did not immediately report the incident to the police or the airline, because he had a young daughter and she did not want him to be terminated.

She lodged a police report on July 1, 2019 after hearing about him being implicated in a similar incident with the first victim.

For molestation under the Penal Code, read with the Tokyo Convention Act, he could have been jailed for up to two years, fined, caned, or given any combination of the three.

However, those aged 50 or above cannot be caned under Singapore law.

Under the Tokyo Convention Act, if a crime takes place on a Singapore-controlled aircraft flying outside of the country, the offender can be charged with the offence under Singapore laws.