Law student in court accused of indecently assaulting two Cathay Pacific crew on flight to Adelaide
- Canadian national was arrested after plane landed in Australia and has been remanded into custody
- Magistrate orders psychiatric report on 28-year-old who was travelling on four-year student visa
An Australian court heard on Friday how a law student travelling from Hong Kong indecently assaulted two Cathay Pacific Airways flight attendants on a flight to Adelaide.
The Canadian national, who has a four-year student visa, had to be restrained by cabin crew and fellow passengers after allegedly performing indecent acts on at least one of the crew members, according to a police statement.
In court, prosecutors opposed bail for the 28-year-old, who was said to have no ties to the country, local newspaper The Advertiser reported.
However, according to the paper, the man’s lawyer Casey Isaacs said his client should be granted bail and had accommodation arranged before his arrival in the city.
According to an airline memo, the man pinned one of the flight attendants down on the galley floor, lying on top of her with his hand up her skirt.
After being restrained he was handcuffed for the rest of the flight.
When the plane arrived in Adelaide, police and immigration officers boarded the plane, and after interviewing witnesses, the man was arrested, according to the Australian Federal Police (AFP).
Peter Sykora, AFP State Manager South Australia Commander, said in a statement that any form of serious criminal behaviour on board an airline would be subject to the full force of the law.
“No one should be subjected to abusive acts in the course of carrying out their job as we will allege happened to these female cabin crew members,” Sykora said.
“This should serve as a reminder to the community that authorities will not tolerate abhorrent behaviour, whether it’s in the air or on the ground. The penalties can be severe.”
Cathay Pacific pilots offered better deal but with big strings attached
The Canadian has been charged with two counts of acts of indecency and one count of indecency without consent. The maximum penalty for the offences is 10 and seven years in prison respectively.
Magistrate John Fahey remanded the man in custody for a further bail hearing later this month and ordered a psychiatric report.
Cathay Pacific confirmed the incident, which took place on Thursday’s flight, and said it would not tolerate “any unruly behaviour that puts our people or our passengers in harm’s way”.
A spokesman added: “The safety of our passengers and our people are our top priority. We strive to provide a safe working environment for our people and we expect our passengers to respect the hard working professionals ensuring their safety and comfort in-flight.”
The incident comes days after the airline’s cabin crew union sought to raise awareness of in-flight assaults, in a push for more training and education.
Cathay Pacific staff to get pay rise despite airline losing HK$263 million
Vera Wu Yee-mei, chairwoman of the Cathay Pacific Airways Flight Attendants Union, condemned the behaviour and said the incident highlighted a need for extra training and education.
“We just spoke about this in a meeting with management a few days ago just asking them to enhance the policy and training on how to handle in-flight sexual harassment to passengers and crew.”
“I think the company is looking into how to enhance the education to all crew if they encounter any such incident in flight.”
According to figures released by the International Air Transport Association last month, the rate of unruly passengers in 2017 was one incident for every 1,075 flights, up from 1,424 flights.
Physical actions such as obscene or lewd physical contact is classed as a level 2 incident, while a level 3 offence includes life-threatening behaviour, with level 4”\ entering a cockpit.
Level 1 is considered verbal aggression. Of the cases reported in 2017, 10 per cent were level 2 incidents.
