79°
Bawer Aksal, 49, was convicted by a federal jury in July of sexually assaulting the 50-year-old woman — a decision that was later upheld by U.S. District Judge Jose L. Linares.
Aksal, an ethnic Kurd who runs a service company that includes the St. Regis Hotel in New York and El Mexicano restaurant in Paterson among its affiliations, insisted during the trial what happened aboard United Airlines Flight 306 last Aug. 20 was consensual sex.
The woman testified, however, that she awoke to find Aksal using his finger to penetrate her.
Aksal was sitting in the middle seat in a row of three when the woman — whom he didn’t know — texted a friend that she was bothered by his arm pushing up against her.
About an hour before landing, the aisle passenger told authorities, he looked to his right and saw Aksal with his body against the victim’s, his arms around her back and beneath a sweater draped over her.
The victim said she awoke to find Aksal’s hands inside her shirt and shorts, then struggled out of his grasp.
Both she and the aisle passenger gathered their belongings and headed to the back of the plane to report what happened to the flight attendants.
Aksal was detained upon arrival in Newark and arrested by FBI agents.
In an appeal to Linares, Aksal claimed the testimony in the trial contradicted portions of the woman’s account — and what he called common sense.
However, Linares wrote that while the testimony of three passengers, the flight attendants and the victim didn’t match up exactly, “the overall testimony was consistent with respect to the allegations stated in the [indictment].
“Certainly, these minor discrepancies — to the extent they are even true discrepancies — do not rise to the level of causing this court to believe that no reasonable jury could have reached a verdict of guilty,” the judge wrote in his December decision.
At the request of Assistant U.S. Attorney Danielle Alfonso Walsman, who called Aksal a “substantial risk of flight,” Linares ordered him held until today’s sentencing.
In addition to the prison term, Linares sentenced Aksal to serve three years of supervised release and ordered him to pay restitution to the victim for her medical expenses.
Aksal is also required to register as a sex offender.
U.S. Attorney Paul J. Fishman credited special agents of the FBI and the Port Authority Police Department. Also representing the government in the case was Robert Frazer of the U.S. Attorney’s Office Criminal Division in Newark.
RELATED:
Federal judge upholds verdict that North Bergen man molested woman on flight
Turkish national from North Bergen guilty of molesting woman on flight
Airplane sex assault trial: Passengers testify of odd behavior by accused molester
Federal trial beginning for North Bergen man accused of molesting woman on plane to Newark
A Turkish national who lives in North Bergen was sentenced today to 97 months in federal prison for molesting a woman sleeping next to him on a flight from Phoenix to Newark.
Click here to follow Daily Voice South Passaic and receive free news updates.
