Soon-to-be married Ratnapura groom slept on the Spanish girl's shoulder on the Turkish plane

It was an airplane flying from Turkey to Sri Lanka. During the long flight, a foreign woman in the adjacent seat fell asleep, leaning on a passenger's shoulder.

However, that unexpected incident ended with the airport police arresting the passenger and presenting him before the Colombo Chief Magistrate's Court.

A young man named V.T. Dissanayake, residing in the Ratnapura area, was thus presented before the court, accused of sexually harassing a Spanish national woman mid-air. Considering the facts, Colombo Chief Magistrate Asanga S. Bodaragama yesterday (26) ordered the release of the suspect on two personal bails of one hundred thousand rupees each.

The Spanish national woman who faced this incident is staying in Sri Lanka only for a short period of about a week. For this reason, she has expressed unwillingness to give a statement to the police regarding this incident. However, the airport police informed the court that the suspect was arrested based on statements recorded from airline officials regarding the situation that arose in the air.

The suspect's lawyer, presenting facts before the court, vehemently denied the police's accusation. She stated that her client had not committed any form of harassment. As explained by the lawyer to the court, during the long flight, the suspect had held the woman's hand to wake her up, as she had fallen asleep leaning on his shoulder. Upon suddenly waking up, the woman, startled, began to scream. The lawyer pointed out that since the foreign woman was traveling with a group of others, she might have reacted that way due to some nervousness or discomfort at that moment, and that nothing else had occurred other than holding her hand to wake her up.

Understanding this emergency, the flight attendants immediately intervened and resolved the conflict by moving the woman to another seat. The suspect, a young man, had arrived on the island on this flight for his wedding, which is scheduled to take place in a few days. His fiancée was also present in court at that time. Explaining these facts, the lawyer requested the court to issue an order allowing the case to be settled and concluded by granting bail under any condition, as her client was willing to resolve the incident quickly.

Considering all the facts presented, the Chief Magistrate granted bail to the suspect and further ordered the police to submit the progress of the investigations related to the incident to the court on the 9th.