Momade Jussab 66

Description

A man who sexually assaulted a woman while she slept on board a flight has been sentenced.

Momade Jussab, 66, was sat next to the victim, a woman in her 20s, in the aircraft bound for Gatwick from Doha in Qatar.

The victim, who cannot be identified for legal reasons, had not met Jussab before.

She awoke during the flight to find he was sexually assaulting her.

When the aircraft landed, she reported her experience to police, and she has received support from specially trained officers.

Police investigated and Jussab was arrested. He was subsequently charged with one count of sexual assault by penetration and two counts of sexual assault, and was found guilty after a trial in March.

At Lewes Crown Court on May 12, Jussab, of Swinfield Close, Feltham, was jailed for six and a half years as part of an extended sentence.

It means he will not be released automatically half way through his sentence, but will instead have to serve at least two thirds of the sentence in prison before he can be considered for parole.

Jussab was also placed on the sex offenders' register indefinitely.

The court was told about how the incident happened on September 28 last year.

The victim recalled how cabin lights were switched off and most passengers were asleep during the flight when the sexual assaults took place.

The crimes continue to have an ongoing impact on the victim.

"It has felt so hard and so traumatising to think that anyone would ever want me to do that to me," she said. "The shock and disbelief at what I have experienced will never go away and I will never understand how or why anyone would do that to a person."