A Thai woman has described waking up to find a fellow passenger touching her inappropriately during an overnight flight from Dubai to Bangkok, next to her four-year-old daughter.
The victim, “Beaut Aornnicha”, shared her story on her Facebook page on Aug 3, saying that she was travelling with her four-year-old daughter when the incident occurred.
Shortly after the flight left Dubai, she noticed a Pakistani man seated nearby resting his arm on her seat. She found the behaviour odd but thought little more of it and later fell asleep beside her daughter.
She said she woke to find a hand touching her near her right buttock, along with a wet sensation in the area. She said she had been sleeping with a blanket.
At first she wondered whether she had imagined it, but grew increasingly suspicious after noticing the man staring at her and fidgeting with the in-flight entertainment screen.
She said she had taken a sleeping pill before boarding and had been in a deep sleep. She believes the man began touching her while she was asleep, and that she only woke partway through.
About 90 minutes before landing, she told a flight attendant about what had happened. The attendant confronted the man, who admitted to the act, wept and repeatedly apologised, but Ms Aornnicha asked for police to meet the flight.
In an update posted on Aug 5, she said the Tourist Police had confirmed that the offender was sentenced to three years in prison and fined 120,000 baht. He will also be subject to a re-entry ban.
