@X im sowwy

In seeking a lighter sentence, the defence lawyer said Balasubramanian had made "positive contributions" to society, noting that the Indian national had worked as a bank manager for a "reputable" bank in India.

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!indianmoment !nooticers

SINGAPORE: A 73-year-old man who molested four air stewardesses during a Singapore Airlines flight from San Francisco to Singapore was sentenced to nine months' jail on Wednesday (Apr 2).

Balasubramanian Ramesh pleaded guilty to four counts of molestation. Another three counts of molestation were taken into consideration for his sentencing.

According to court documents, Balasubramanian molested one of the women four times and targeted the three others once each because he found the women "attractive".

The victims - who were all on duty at the time - cannot be named due to a gag order.

The offences took place on Nov 18, 2024, over a period of about 14 hours. The flight itself lasted approximately 17 hours.

According to court documents, Balasubramanian, who was a passenger onboard the aircraft, used his hand to stroke the first victim's buttocks twice over her clothing as she was pushing the meal cart past his seat at around 3.30am Singapore time.

Shocked, she quickly walked away but felt discomforted by his actions.

Five minutes later, the accused molested another victim as she was bending over to serve food to the passenger seated across the aisle from him. He used his left hand to stroke her buttocks twice over her clothing.

Between 3.20am and 6am, he molested her another three times.

The court heard that the victim felt "extremely annoyed" and harassed by his actions.

At 9.30am, Balasubramanian molested a third victim as she was assisting the passenger seated next to him with his in-flight entertainment system. He did so by placing his hand on the victim's right upper thigh over her clothing.

She quickly backed away but continued to feel shocked and overwhelmed nine hours later, the court heard.

At around 5.30pm, he molested a fourth victim while she was assisting the passenger seated next to him in adjusting their seat for landing. He placed his hand on her left upper thigh over her clothing.

However, as her colleagues had earlier advised her to be cautious around the accused, she stepped back immediately upon feeling physical contact.

When she later confronted him, he denied touching her.

The air stewardess and her supervisor then informed the accused that they were aware he had inappropriately touched several cabin crew members and that the matter would be reported to the police.

Upon arrival in Singapore, the victims' supervisor lodged a report at the SIA Control Centre, and the case was referred to the Airport Police Division. Balasubramanian was arrested on the same day.

On Wednesday, Deputy Public Prosecutor Ashley Chin sought a sentence of between 9.5 and 12.5 months' jail.

"The accused committed seven acts of molest on a single flight; he not only intentionally touched the buttocks and thighs of a total of four SIA air stewardesses, but also repeatedly and brazenly molested the first victim on a total of four occasions," said Ms Chin in her submission.

She added that the fact that the offences had been carried out on board an aircraft and on air transportation workers were aggravating factors.

In seeking a lighter sentence, the defence lawyer said Balasubramanian had made "positive contributions" to society, noting that the Indian national had worked as a bank manager for a "reputable" bank in India.

In delivering the sentencing, District Judge Toh Han Li said it reflected the gravity of the accused's conduct during a single flight, where he molested four victims who were air transportation workers.

He rejected the defence's argument that his offences were committed in the "spur of moment", pointing out that they took place over a 14-hour period.

!nooticers !indianmoment

I (26F) am neither ugly nor good looking, I don't look 26, and most people think I'm 16-20. I don't look Chinese (ppl think I'm half Chinese half inserts random SEA ethnicity) even though I am (may or may not be relevant). This happened on a Scoot flight from Bangkok to SG. My first draft is gone because my battery ran out while writing so I'm writing this all over again, the tone might not reflect my actual sentiments about the ordeal T_T the guy is Thai, I saw from his passport which he took out at one point

The plane's seat arrangement is 3-3-3, our column was middle and my aisle seat was right next to him (middle). All good, I placed my bag in the overhead compartment and sat down on my seat. After a while I noticed he was unusually composed, and was resting his left arm on the armrest, there was nobody sitting on his right. I leaned towards the left, trying to "get" my own space. I was really beginning to feel uncomfortable

Now, I have flown budget airlines within India multiple times before (Mumbai-Bangalore-Kolkata routes) and have sat next to men in some of these flights. NONE of these men have ever made me feel uncomfortable, they respected my space and just minded their own business. Heck I even had to sit in between two men before (but this was bound for Shanghai from another Chinese city) and the aisle-seated guy took initiative to move somewhere else. The only bad experience I had was when this man took off his shoes and proceeded to cross his legs, his foot was just there near my foldable table lol.

The plane took off and after the seatbelt sign was off, I crossed the aisle over to the column of seats adjacent to the windows. I did not know you had to pay to sit there so when the air stewardess saw me she asked me to go back to my seat. I told her "the man beside me is making me feel uncomfortable so I moved here", she looked over to where I originally sat and the man was using the lavatory in that moment. She said if he made me feel uncomfortable again I can just tell her, I couldn't resist her assertive demeanour so I obediently went back.

The guy came back from the lavatory and saw that I came back to the seat. He sat on the aisle seat leaving the middle seat empty. I think because the guy near him was coughing with his mouth open, he moved back to the middle seat. And this point I was just thinking to myself "aiya f*** it la if he dare touch you or anything just hit him and defend urself lor". My body was stiff and my anxiety was peaking. This was when he decided to strike a conversation with me, asking me where I was from etc and whether I could help him with some documents upon arrival. I thought he meant the arrival card and I assured him he could just write it at the passport check area. He didn't seem pleased with my answer and looked doubtful and worried(?). At this point I started feeling bad for him. I wonder if I've made him feel like a bad guy instead of focusing on how I can rectify it. When buying the meal, he couldn't find some of his cash and I offered him my remaining bahts, really because I didn't want him to think I was a threat to him. Looking back I was also ignoring the bad of feeling I had about him. The same air stewardess who asked me to go back to my seat passed by, saw him and asked "are you travelling with this man?" Heck nah I wasn't and I blurted out a "no". She apologised profusely and said I could move back to that seat, I thanked her and sat there till landing. She did pass by and continued apologising and I felt really bad, we had some small talks.

Here's the juicy part. Since I was already near the back of the plane, after the plane landed and everyone was waiting to take their belongings from the overhead compartment, I decided to take it chill and wait behind. Idk how I ended up at the back chatting with the same air stewardess, and I was telling her how I fly a lot and this was the first time I genuinely felt uncomfortable by the person sitting next to me. That man went one round behind the crew resting area and then towards where I stood and asked me again if I could help with the documents on arrival. I think this time the air stewardess had a good look at him, I gave the same answer about how you could do it on arrival, he looked lost as if I should be bending my back to assist him, so I looked at her, they both make eye contact and I suggested to him perhaps he should just ask this air stewardess for info. He looked at her again, clearly not interested in asking her, clearly disappointed about sth idk what and walked away. She was so quick to take precautionary actions after she saw it herself what this guy is doing. She phoned the ground staff and told them that a passenger will be disembarking with the crew, on the basis that he could be waiting for me outside the plane.

All the passengers disembarked, leaving me and the crew on the plane. I thought I was inconveniencing them so I left first but I informed one of her colleagues before hopping off. My stupid butt exited at terminal 1 instead of terminal 3 where the luggage collection was. So I spent a good 7-10 minutes WALKING from T1 to T3. Guess who I saw at T3 while walking to the information counter. That man. he was sauntering in the area as if keeping a lookout for someone, I yeeted away from his field of vision but nope he saw me and called out a "hey". I pretended not to see him and went to the information counter. I bumped into the same air stewardess otw and I told her how I saw him near the Crowne plaza connector just now. She was so worried for me and still apologised like yooooo, thanks gurlll. I think she even waited in that area for me to appear to make sure I was fine. We then bid each other goodbye and I went to get my access code from the info counter, entered the luggage collection area which took about 5-7 minutes in total because of the security checks, thinking by the time I come out this guy would've already left. HAHAHAHA nope.

When I came out, HE WAS STILL THERE. How??? I spent like a good 5-8 minutes in there WDYM HES STILL THERE, it has been 40 minutes since y'all disembarked from the plane. I was the 3rd or 4th last person to collect checked in baggage. There's literally no shortage of cabs at this point because the arrival hall wasn't crowded, but it was so clear he was walking from one end to the other looking for me??

I booked my Gojek asap and suddenly he also needed to come to B1 pick up?? THATS CRAZY BC wow such amazing coincidence that your cab came at the same time!!! I could literally see him trying to look busy on his phone, acting lost, all while being 10m away from me as I made my way to B1 pick up point. I zoomed to the pick up area trying to be further away and HAHAHAHA HE WAS MAKING HIS WAY BEHIND ME THE WHOLE TIME. I saw a security guard outside sitting behind a counter, I ran towards him and straight up told him "hi, can you chat with me as if you're having a great conversation with me? There's a guy following me and I don't want him near me". He looked so confused and asked where that guy was and since when he started following, I said "actually it started from the plane but yes he's literally right behind". He was still trying to make out what I said so I proceeded with a "what's your favourite Singaporean food??" Bro said chicken rice like yo I was so confused bc, this Malay man's favourite sg dish is Hainanese like huh?? HAHA anyway I tried to continue the convo to look busy and unapproachable, then he broke eye contact while I was chattering away, stared at the specific man walking towards me and then past us, and asked if it was him. From my peripheral vision I saw it was him, and said yes. Although the security guard was confused, his reflexes kicked in once he realised what was happening, and said he will walk with me to my car so that that Thai man won't come near me. Man was tall, and kinda buff, I immediately felt security. He (security guard) really waited around because even after I got in the car, he still stood there and didn't immediately walk back to his counter.

I guess what I wanna say is, if you ever feel unsafe by anyone seriously do not hesitate to reach out to the staff whom you think can help you. Be it on the flight or at the airport itself, I'm seriously really glad I met these bunch of people because I probably would've ended up in a distressful situation if it weren't for these preventive measures.

TLDR; foreign man made me feel uncomfortable on flight and proceeded to stalk me at arrival hall but local staff were solid at handling everything

Feel free to share your horror/wholesome stories on the plane, or at Changi Airport! I think I was quite lucky this time

Edit: missing words

@T3D_SIMP

!chuds