NYC man allegedly sexually assaults sleeping seatmate on 13-hour flight

Staten Island resident Nadeem Mehmood Quraishi was arrested for allegedly sexually assaulting a woman during a 13-hour flight from Dubai to JFK on Monday; police claim he took the victim’s lotion and rubbed it on her body while she slept, according to a Gothamist report, which added that the victim had taken anti-anxiety medicine and fallen asleep.

Upon waking, the “passenger noticed that lotion had been spread on her arms, chest, and up her legs and that the hand lotion she had placed in the pocket in front of her seat was missing,” according to a criminal complaint filed by Detective Christopher Caruso, a related Smoking Gun article reported.

When the victim went to the bathroom, her groin area was painful and, according to the complaint referenced by the Smoking Gun, she discovered “that her underwear had been shifted and that lotion was in her vaginal area and on her underwear.”

Upon returning to her seat, Quraishi handed her lotion back to her, and she contacted crew members to report that she believed that “something happened to her while she fell asleep,” the Smoking Gun reported.

Flight attendants confronted Quraishi, who allegedly admitted to the incident, Gothamist stated. According to the complaint, the defendant allegedly also told the flight attendants “that she needed it, and that the passenger enjoyed it because she did not resist it.”

Quraishi was charged with sexual contact without consent and released on $50,000 bond, Gothamist reported, adding that he was ordered to surrender his passport and not leave NYC.