Man who denied sex assault takes his life

AN Irish cabin crew member has tragically taken his own life after being arrested in the US in connection with the alleged sexual assault of an air hostess.

The Dublin man, who was in his mid-20s, was arrested in a hotel room in Florida over the alleged false imprisonment, attempted sexual battery and battery of a colleague of his, a female air hostess for the same airline.

The man, named in the US by police who also released his photograph which was subsequently published by some media, was later released on bail of $10,500 paid by his parents and returned home.

The police investigation was ongoing.

However, the man took his own life in recent days. He was laid to rest on Friday and his family are said to be ‘understandably devastated’ by what happened.

The airline confirmed their former employee’s death in a statement to the Irish Daily Mail this weekend, saying: ‘We are deeply saddened by the tragic news of the death of [name removed], a member of our cabin crew. Our thoughts and prayers are with his family, friends and colleagues at this difficult time.’

The alleged attack took place on May 22 in a hotel room. The Dubliner was kept in custody for a couple of days before being allowed to return home.

The arrest affidavit in the US states that the man was arrested at 8pm on the evening of Tuesday, May 23.

The alleged offences were listed as false imprisonment, attempted sexual battery and battery on the legal document.

The affidavit states that an officer met and spoke to the alleged victim after the Orange County Sheriff’s Office was notified of an incident at the hotel.

The alleged victim initially did not want to press charges, according to the document, but is said to have later told an officer that this was because ‘she could not process all that happened to her’.

The officer said the Dublin man told him he ‘had been consuming alcohol most of the day’ on the day in question and ‘was having lapses of memory’ because of this. The officer said the cabin crewman remembers inviting the woman into his room to use the phone and ‘recalled engaging in “horseplay” with [her]’.

An Irish senior security source described the latest development in the case as ‘extremely sad’. The source added: ‘There was a serious allegation, which was denied... There are no winners in this extremely sad case.’