Newlywed groom, 37, ‘sexually assaulted sleeping student for two hours on flight back from his honeymoon’, court hears

A GROOM groped a sleeping student for up to two hours on the flight back from his honeymoon, a court heard today.

Robert Van Den Bergh, 37, allegedly touched the woman's thighs as she dozed under a blanket on the plane from Hawaii to Heathrow.

The city trader, whose wife Romy was on a separate flight, even joked the two sleeping pills she had taken could make her unconscious, it is said.

Isleworth Crown Court heard she woke to find Van Den Bergh groping her under the blanket as the motion grew "stronger and more deliberate".

The woman placed a pillow between her and the groom but the alleged touching between 31 December, 2019, and 1 January, 2020, continued.

When he got up to use the toilet an hour-and-a-half later, she asked United Airlines cabin crew if she could be moved, jurors were told.

Giving evidence, she said: "I felt his fingers grazing my left thigh. I was unsure whether it was intentional or not.

"At first [the touching] was light and unnoticeable but it gradually grew in confidence and after two hours I knew that it was intentional.

"'I just was very scared and I didn't know what to do in the situation. I was just full of fear."

The complainant continued: "I wanted to get out of my seat and that's when I looked at his face.

"I saw that his body was angled towards me and his eyes were closed. He turned so that is torso was facing me."

The court was told Van Den Bergh was arrested after officers yelled his name and escorted him from the plane on arrival in London.

He had been travelling separately from his wife as she was on a separate flight with a friend.

The power and coal analyst said he spoke with the woman and another female passenger beside him and "didn't sense any tension".

Speaking to police, he said: "You try to keep a distance, but it is quite difficult in Economy.

"I can confirm that I would never do that. I've never done anything remotely like that. I would be very surprised of anything of that order of magnitude."

Van Den Bergh, of Hackney, denies sexual assault.

The trial continues.