An Indian national has been jailed after he sexually assaulted a 12-year-old girl on his flight to Heathrow.
Javed Inamdar, 34, groped the schoolgirl on a British Airways flight from Mumbai to Heathrow in December last year.
Isleworth Crown Court heard, the shipping company boss had ‘testeed the waters’ by stroking the girl’s hand before touching her chest as she slept.
The young victim woke up crying and screamed out ‘get the f*** away from me’ on the red-eye flight over the Pacific.
When confronted by a flight attendent, the father-of-two allegedly told them he ‘may have confused the young girl with his wife’.
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The shipping boss from Mumbai denied one count of assaulting a girl under 13 by touching but was found guilty by a jury.
Inamdar appeared in the dock at Isleworth Crown Court, assisted by a Hindi interpreter, for sentencing and cried throughout.
Lee Sergent, defending, said: ‘He comes from a different part of the world in India.
‘He has made some success of his life in India helping his family. He has been on bail in this country because his employers have backed him and got him housing in this country.
‘Being on bail in this country has had a greater restriction on his life than a person from this country. He has not been able to see his wife or children.
‘He has no right to stay in this country and if he was given a suspended sentence he would be leaving straight away on a plane’.
Cabin manager Rebecca Rooney said she found the girl ‘visibly distressed’, and had ‘her knees to her chest and was hugging herself’ at just after midnight on December 14.
Ms Rooney told the court: ‘I asked her what happened, she stated the male in the seat next to her had put his hands up her jumper and had touched her breast’.
She then walked to the back of the plane to find the man and moved him into another seat, the court heard.
Flight attendent Michelle Adams was assigned to deal with Inamdar after the assault.
Inamdar claimed he thought the girl ‘was his wife’ and that he had ‘fallen asleep cuddling her’.
He also insisted he was asleep when he assaulted the girl.
He also told police that he tried to explain to a flight attendant that there had been a misunderstanding.
He later claimed during his police interview: ‘How can anyone specifically remember all this? Whether I moved my hand or anything like that?
‘Yes, it’s possible, accidentally, maybe, but not intentionally – that’s 100 per cent’.
Sentencing him to 21 months in prison, Judge Simon Davis said: ‘This is a tragic case for the young girl. You got on that airplane and sat yourself down on the window seat. At that stage you thought you had the opportunity to assault her.
‘You tested the waters by brushing her hand. You’re shaking your head but the jury has found their verdict. That was an outrageous thing to do. This country will protect people like this young girl, especially at that young age.
‘When she was horrified and protested, you ran as fast as you could, making up what you could say as a way of defence.
‘I have decreased the sentence because of you waiting in this country and not being able to communicate with your wife, which in itself is another tragedy. I consider that as a material factor’.
After he was convicted and led away to the cells, Inamdar shouted: ‘I need to call my wife to let her know what is happening’.
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