NEWARK — Today's bail hearing for the North Bergen man charged with molesting a sleeping woman on a commercial airplane flight will be continued Thursday after prosecutors voiced concerns that he is a flight risk.
At today's hearing, Assistant US Attorney Elizabeth Harris said Bawer Aksal, 48, has two active US passports with different first names, as well as a Turkish passport. She said he has no family in the United States and dual citizenship.
"If he flied to Turkey, it is very likely we will never get him back," said Harris, adding that the United States and Turkey have an extradition treaty but Turkey seldom extradites people.
Defense attorney Robert DeGroot argued that Aksal has been in the US for 31 years and has no criminal record whatsoever. He said his client legally changed his name and that's why he has two passports.
The lawyer said Aksal is Kurdish and he fled Turkey to escape persecution. He said Aksal has written articles on the plight of Kurds in Turkey and the last time he visited the country he was interrogated due to the articles and has no intention of returning.
DeGroot also said the prosecution's case is not as strong as they say it is and what happened was consensual.
Authorities say Aksal was seated next to a woman he did no know on United Airlines Flight 306 from Phoenix to Newark on last week Monday and the woman fell asleep with a jacket across her legs.
She told authorities that when she woke, Aksal's hands were inside her shirt and shorts touching her private areas and he asked her to kiss him, the criminal complaint says.
The woman demanded he stop and immediately told a flight crew member what had happened, the complaint said, adding that Aksal was taken into custody when the plane landed.
When questioned, Aksal admitted to, among other things, touching the woman in a sexual manner, but claimed she forced his hand into her crotch, the complaint says.
At today's hearing US District Court Judge Madeline Cox Arleo said she wanted more information on Aksal's passport situation before setting bail. The hearing will resume Thursday at 2 p.m. in the Martin Luther King Jr. Federal Building in Newark.
