Horror as woman 'sexually assaulted mid flight while she sleeps next to daughter'

A woman alleges she was sexually assaulted by a man while she was asleep on a flight with her four-year-old daughter. The alleged assault took place mid-flight on a flydubai route from Dubai to Bangkok. The 33-year-old was returning home from a trip to Venice, Italy, and was asleep during the second flight of her trip. She claims she woke up mid-flight to find the man beside her performing a sex act on her.

The mother-of-one had taken sleeping pills for the flight while her daughter napped beside her on the six-hour journey on flight FZ-1583 on August 3. She says she woke in horror when she discovered the man beside her squeezing her backside and touching himself. She says that there was semen on the right side of her upper right thigh, and that her leggings were damp. She said the man quickly withdrew his hand when he realised she had woken up. He then allegedly covered it with his jacket and pretended to adjust the entertainment screen in front of her seat while repeatedly glancing at her.

The woman said she didn’t want to cause a panic and waited until the flight landed in Bangkok before telling the cabin crew about the incident and filing a police report.

“I did not understand everything the air hostess was saying to the man, because they were speaking in Arabic, but the flight attendant asked him whether he had done what I reported,” she said. “At first, he denied it, but eventually he admitted what happened.”

She said that the man then made a scene, crying and begging for forgiveness on his knees. However, a flight attendant told the man that the police had to be involved. It is also understood that he was travelling as part of a tour group, with some of its members pleading for forgiveness on his behalf.

She said: “They [his friends] asked me to let him go and forgive him, but the flight attendant told those who were not involved to leave because this was a police matter.

“Later, I found out he came with a tour group. He was travelling with friends or people from the same tour group, not with family.”

She added: “There were around four or five people who came and tried to intervene, and there may have been more because they travelled as a group.

“My daughter was taken away by the captain, so she would not see everything that happened.”

Tourist police and immigration officers boarded the plane to drag the alleged offender off the aircraft. Police Lieutenant Colonel Chamnanyut Konkong of the Don Mueang district station said officers would attempt to arrange mediation between the two parties.

He said: “The suspect has been denied entry into Thailand. We have scheduled the complainant to be interviewed this morning.

“He has not yet been investigated. The initial step will be to arrange a mediation between the two parties, as this is the normal procedure.”

The woman said she wanted to raise awareness about the risks to solo female travellers after the incident. She revealed: “Passengers are often sleeping during long flights, and women travelling alone can be vulnerable. This happened even though I was travelling with my child. I cannot imagine what could happen to someone travelling alone who is too afraid to speak up.”

She continued: “I want other women to know that they should not feel embarrassed. If something feels wrong, they should report it and ask for help.

“I decided to tell my story because I do not want anyone else to experience what I experienced.”

A flydubai spokesperson declined to comment on the situation when asked by the Daily Mail. It said it does not disclose passenger information and details regarding ongoing investigations.

“The safety of our passengers and crew is our top priority,” a spokesperson said.