She had been told she could have been sentenced up to ten years
A 25 year old woman teacher from Ealing Common who groped a flight attendant and demanded sex after knocking back almost a pint of whisky was spared jail so she can keep her job.
Katherine Goldberg, grabbed the man's groin at 33,000ft during a long-haul Virgin Atlantic flight from Johannesburg to London.
Goldberg - originally from South African was returning from visiting relatives on August 24 after having finished exams in Montessori teaching.
She had pleaded guilty to sexual assault and being drunk on an aircraft at an earlier hearing at Uxbridge Magistrates Court.
Isleworth Crown Court heard how Goldberg, 25, was convinced that the man was her boyfriend as a result of her 'alcohol-induced illusion.'
The court was told that Goldberg, who has been suspended from her job as a teacher at a Montessori school, has admitted to having an alcohol problem and now attends Alcoholics Anonymous meetings five times a week.
She also went on a one-month residential course after realising she had hit 'rock bottom'.
Goldberg was fined £1,500, ordered to carry out an 11-month community order and 80 hours of unpaid work, and to pay £250 costs.
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28th November 2011