Drunk man groped passenger's breasts
A Perth man is awaiting sentencing after pleading guilty to touching a woman’s breast during a Qantas flight home from New Zealand.
Milinda Gunasekera, 32, was flying back to Australia on October 29 after a holiday in Chile when he consumed a bottle of vodka in the toilets at Auckland Airport and inappropriately touched the female passenger sitting in the seat in front of him.
The 32-year-old was originally accused of indecent assault and threatening to kill, offences that carry a maximum jail term of seven years, the New Zealand Herald reported.
Gunasekera flew back to New Zealand a couple of times “hoping to resolve” the Manukau District Court matters, but police refused to scale back the seriousness of the charges, which were amended after the file was reviewed by Crown law.
His lawyer John Munro entered guilty pleas on his client’s behalf “to counts under the Summary Offences Act, which carry a jail term of up six months”.
The incidents happened while the plane was taxiing to the runway.
Mr Munro said his client could not remember the incident but he was embarrassed and remorseful.
Gunasekera “would likely offer emotional harm reparation to the victim at sentencing”, the Herald said.
Mr Munro said he believed there was no sexual intent in the act and his client had since accepted that he was an alcoholic. He had since undergone rehabilitation and was taking medication that made him violently ill if he consumed alcohol.
Gunasekera is due to be sentenced in June.
