A South African woman executive faces jail for a male flight steward rondtas and demanding sex while drunk on a plane.
Katherine Goldberg, 25, of Ealing Common, London, grabbed the cabin crew member's heading for a half liter of drinking whiskey on a Virgin Atlantic flight.
And this week she was told by a British magistrate that she faces up to ten years behind bars for the offense after magistrates ruled that the matter is too serious for them to handle.
Goldberg pleaded guilty at Uxbridge Magistrate's Court to sexual assault and drunk on a plane.
The executive educational supplies is given bail and must return for sentencing at Isleworth Crown Court next month.
Goldberg is understood to have been returning from visiting relatives when the alleged incident occurred on 10 000 on an Airbus A340-600 in the early morning on 24 August.
His "strong sexual advances" toward the victim made during the flight from Johannesburg to London's Heathrow, the court heard.
Bank President Mary Petley explain why the case would not the court heard: "... if you were drunk on a plane and you were a little our way here you can sleep and snore.
"But it is rather serious," she told the defendant.
Kevin Christie, prosecuting, said: "The defendant was drunk in the air and touch a male member of the cabin crew. His strong sexual advances in the direction of the man made during the flight. Goldberg then affects the groin and testicular areas . "
Attorneys for Goldberg tried to charge to court and the sexual assault charge is handled by a police caution to avoid.
Speaking at a court hearing last month, Solicitor Francis Brennan told magistrates: "It is a serious accusation, but there are good reasons why it is in the public interest would be for the Crown to proceed with her by way of warning.
"I told the court that admission was made in the interview and if things are not handled through a warning there will be a plea of guilty at the next opportunity."
Earlier this year, even a drunk woman passenger - a pilot forced to abort a landing to fight as his cabin crew and other passengers - was given a suspended prison sentence.
Lynn Grimes, 41, has a phobia of flying and drinking during the greater part of the EasyJet flight from Athens last December. She was invited to sit with cabin crew at the rear of the aircraft, because they knew of her condition, but as the plane prepared to land, she refused to return to her seat. She kicked a manager in the stomach and a fellow passenger's hair and scarf caught.
Grimes is an eight-month prison sentence, suspended for 18 months.
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