REVEALED: Shocking new details of ‘sex assault’ on MAS flight

AN AUSTRALIAN woman has revealed shocking details of her alleged sexually assaulted on board a Malaysia Airlines flight earlier this month.

Laura Bushney, 26, told Seven’s Sunday Night yesterday that she was attacked twice by the chief steward Mohd Rosli Bin Ab Karim on flight MH20 from Kuala Lumpur to Paris, August 4.

She fought back tears as she recounted the alleged incident, also showed chilling footage taken from her phone on board.

Ms Bushney was sitting at the back of the plane in a row that was vacant except for a traveller six seats away. It was dark.

Three hours into the flight turbulence hit, scaring Ms Bushney. Moments later she claims that Mr Karim allegedly sat next to her to “comfort her”, blocking her exit.

Concerned, she secretly hit the record button on her phone. She says she was uncomfortable when he grabbed her hand so asked him to get her a drink so that he’d leave.

When he returned she claims he rubbed her legs and put them on his lap.

“He’s massaging my legs,” she can be heard saying in the recording. “I’m so scared, I just want to get off this plane.”

“He then started pushing his hand down, moving his hand down towards my belly button and I pushed his hand away and he was massaging my legs and I thought by pushing it away that I was telling him I didn’t want that to happen but I didn’t want to say it, I was just scared.”

She claims he digitally raped her.

Laura’s emotional interview with Sunday Night will air this weekend. Source: Channel 7

When asked why she didn’t scream for help, Ms Bushney said she froze: “I keep saying ‘why didn’t I scream, why didn’t I shout, why didn’t I stop it?’

“I’m a strong person because I can, I can do that, I know I can, but when I was in the moment I couldn’t. I felt so scared, so petrified.”

When he’d left to get her a drink Ms Bushney told a woman seated in front of her what had happened. That woman was Canadian traveller Sophie Lachance, who encouraged her to report what had happened.

“Somebody touched my arm … and I remember I woke up and I saw her face full of tears and she was sobbing really, really strong,” Ms Lachance said. “She told me that this man put his hand in her pants.”

Later on, Ms Bushney recorded a confrontation with Mr Karim, who can be seen pleading with her as she sobs. He said his “intentions were good” and that he was simply trying to comfort her.

Mr Karim. Source: Channel 7

“You did, you did, you did, don’t lie. It’s what you did,” she can be heard saying as she presses him about the alleged assault.

He can be heard pleading for a second chance and saying: “I am so sorry. I am so sorry ma’am”.

Upon landing at Paris’ Charles de Gaulle Airport, the steward — who is married with three daughters — was detained by police and two weeks later is still behind bars.

However, Karim denies the claims, saying Laura didn’t resist him.

The maximum penalty he faces if convicted is 15 years.

Laura says she is speaking out for first time about what happened because she feels let down by the actions of the airline.

Malaysian Airlines was in serious financial trouble even before the twin disasters of MH370 and MH17 claimed the lives of 537 people. Source: Flickr

Malaysia Airlines has confirmed that the allegations were made, and has vowed to assist French authorities in their investigation, adding “the safety, comfort and wellbeing of our passengers is always our highest priority”.

“Malaysia Airlines expects and accepts nothing short of the highest standards of conduct from its crew and takes any such allegations very seriously,” it said.

Sexual assaults on planes are rare, but they do occur and can be difficult to investigate. In February Carlos Vasquez was sentenced to three years probation and fined $3000 for molesting a 15-year-old girl who sat next to him on a flight from Houston to Washington, US. She pretended to be asleep during the ordeal.

A month earlier passenger Bawer Aksal was sentenced to eight years in jail for sexually assaulting a woman on a United Airlines flight from Phoenix to Newark, US. The victim told the court: “I will never be the same person I once was”.

Last September an Indian man was sentenced to nine months jail for a mile-high sex attack,
IndiaEveryday reports.

Mile-high crimes usually occur on overnight flights, FBI Supervisory Special Agent Drew Ptasienski told US news site NBC News 41.

“The crew isn’t walking around (as much),” Ptasienski said. “It’s a crime of opportunity.”

The allegations comes as Malaysia Airlines continues to battle for survival following recent tragedies. Flight MH370 disappeared mysteriously in March with 239 people aboard, en route from Kuala Lumpur to Beijing. No trace has been found and the airline was widely criticised for its handling of the crisis. On July 17, MH17 was shot down over Ukraine, with 298 people killed.

The airline is in deep financial trouble, with predictions it’s burning through its cash reserves at a rate of around $2.16 million per day, and bookings continue to slide.

A plane carrying coffins with the remains of victims of Malaysian Airlines flight MH17. Source: AFP

-News.com.au