A man accused of groping a woman sitting next to him on a flight claims his hands sometimes move uncontrollably when he sleeps.
The woman, 19, claims Bektash Sefa unsuccessfully tried to talk to her as they boarded the flight from the Netherlands to Detroit. She says once the flight took off and she was asleep, he started touching her. He’s denying it.
“He denied touching anyone during the flight, but claimed that he has nightmares, and his hands move a lot when he sleeps and that he sometimes sleepwalks,” the complaint said.
According to the Kansas City Star, the woman accused Sefa of touching her thigh, groin area, and breast. She then ran to the bathroom to get away from him and told the flight attendants of the alleged sexual assault.
“The woman said she shifted her body away from Sefa, but he edged closer to her and moved his hand up her leg, officials said,” Click On Detroit reported.
“[She] was so frightened that she could barely explain the incident,” the complaint reads. “Both flight attendants noted that the lights were off, and the cabin was dark when the incident took place.”
The woman reportedly moved to a different seat after the incident until the plane landed in Detroit and flight attendants told authorities about the woman’s complaint. Sefa was interviewed at the airport with the help of an Albanian interpreter, and he denied the accusations against him.
The alleged groper faces an abusive sexual contact charge, but a defense attorney has not yet been listed for him.
In January, a British man was accused of raping a woman on a flight from New Jersey to London. “The man allegedly sexually assaulted the woman in business class while other passengers were sleeping on the flight from Newark, New Jersey to Heathrow, London on January 31,” 7News reported.
The woman reported the man to the crew of the plane, and they called the police before landing in London. The accused man was arrested but later released as the investigation was ongoing.
A source later told The Sun that the man and woman were talking at the bar on the airplane. “The parties were apparently unknown to each other beforehand but had apparently been seen talking to each other and drinking during the flight,” the source said.