A 19-year-old woman awoke to a man massaging her knee and touching her groin area and breast on a Delta flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands to Detroit, Michigan.
The groper, Bektash Sefa, told law enforcement that he didn’t sexually assault the woman because he had a nightmare that caused his hands to move uncontrollably.
According to investigators Bektash Sefa tried to speak to the 19-year-old woman as they were boarding, but she ignored him.
So he sexually assaulted her while she was asleep.
The flight attendants said the female victim was so distraught after she awoke to Sefa sexually assaulting her that she could barely articulate what had happened.
Sefa was charged with abusive sexual contact.
Click on Detroit reported:
A man who was caught sexually assaulting the 19-year-old woman sitting in the middle seat next to him on a Delta flight to Detroit blamed it on his hands moving while he slept, according to authorities.
Officials said Bektash Sefa sat next to a 19-year-old woman during an Oct. 10, 2021, Delta Airlines flight from Amsterdam, Netherlands, to Detroit Metro Airport.
About two hours into the eight-hour flight, the woman started to fall asleep, authorities said. She woke up when she felt Sefa put his right hand on her left knee and massage the area, according to the criminal complaint.
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.
Sefa touched the woman’s inner thigh and groin area while adjusting his arm so that his right elbow pressed against her chest, according to authorities.
The woman said she stood up and ran to the bathroom at the back of the plane. When she came out, she reported the sexual assault to two flight attendants, officials said.
When the plane landed at Detroit Metro Airport, Sefa was escorted off and interviewed through an Albanian interpreter in the McNamara Terminal, court records show.
“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 criminal complaint reads.
The complaint argues that there is probable cause to believe Sefa knowingly engaged in sexual contact with the woman without her permission, “with the intent to harass, arouse, and gratify (his) sexual desire.”
