A female business executive faces jail for groping “the groin and testicular area” of a male flight steward and demanding sex while drunk on an aircraft.
Britain’s Daily Mail printed a photo of the suspect, a strikingly attractive young woman named in court as Katherine Goldberg, 25, of Ealing Common, London.
She is said to have knocked back about half a litre of whisky before grabbing a Virgin Atlantic steward’s crotch. Yesterday, magistrates ruled that the case was too serious for them to deal with. They have moved it on to the Crown Court.
Goldberg, originally from South Africa, pleaded guilty at a magistrate’s court in the London suburb of Uxbridge to sexual assault and being drunk on an aircraft.
But the matter does not end there. Magistrates told her she could face up to 10 years in prison.
She has been bailed for sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court next month.
Magistrate’s courts in the UK can impose no more than a six-month custodial sentence or a GBP5000 fine (about AUD7500). The courts have the power to commit defendants to the Crown Court for sentencing if the magistrate feels that either the offence is so serious that it warrants greater punishment than the magistrate’s court has power to impose, or, in the case of a violent or sexual offence, that a custodial sentence longer than the court has power to impose is necessary to protect the public from serious harm.
Goldberg was returning from visiting relatives in South Africa when the alleged incident took place on a Virgin Airbus A340-600 in the early hours of the morning on 24 August.
She had allegedly made “strong sexual advances” to the victim beforehand.
The women’s lawyers previously tried to avoid the charge going to court by suggesting the sexual assault charge could be dealt with by a police caution.
Comments in the Daily Mail on the case included one from a reader who wrote: “As a former stewardess, all I can say is: The tables have turned”. Another reader wrote: “For heavens sake, she’s just a drunk. Doesn’t anyone have a sense of humour any more? Fine her a few grand for disrupting the flight and have done with it.”
Written by : Peter Needham
(Source: eglobaltravelmedia.com.au)
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