Italian man guilty of attempting to rape passenger on flight to Edinburgh

The High Court in Edinburgh heard the 45-year-old asked his victim if he could move into the aisle seat of her row, which had been empty, before offering her wine.

“I ordered some wine from the stewardess and I pulled like a funny face because it wasn’t a very good wine and that’s when he retrieved his wine from his overhead bag and offered me some,” she told the court.

The victim accepted it before the Italian moved into the middle seat, closer to her, and requested that they switch seats.

“In my head I thought it was very strange - very weird,” she said. “I think we did try and communicate but yeah the language barrier was not great.”

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The complainer said Cristiano proceeded to grab her hand, trying to force her to touch his exposed penis.

During trial, the accused admitted continuing to seize his victim’s hand and pull it towards his crotch despite her ‘saying no three or four times’ and pulling away.

“I was a bit stunned at first but I did kind of… I think I was a bit frozen at first but I think there was a point where I did try to push his hand away,” the victim said.

The woman described how Cristiano went on to seize her neck trying to force her to perform oral sex.

David Higgins, a passenger in the row behind, gave evidence to say he witnessed a man forcefully grabbing the victim by the arm and neck and pulling her towards his crotch.

He explained the woman continually tried to make eye contact with him and that he became ‘uncomfortable’ and ‘concerned’.

“[Cristiano] got up to go to the toilet and I think he asked me to come with him,” the victim said. “I said ‘Yes, yes I will’ just to make him get up and as soon as he got up to go to the toilet that’s when I went to get cabin crew.”

Mr Higgins told the court the complainer seemed ‘distressed’ so he approached staff to tell them what he had witnessed and to check if the woman was okay.

A crew member took the witness stand to say the complainer seemed ‘emotional’ and told him she’d been sexually assaulted.

Dario Brandis told Police Scotland the accused then tried to emerge from the toilet nearby, before he stopped him leading the victim to identify her attacker, saying: “That’s him - he wouldn’t take no for an answer."

The captain called Police Scotland who boarded the plane and arrested Cristiano upon landing at Edinburgh Airport.

The 45-year-old had lodged a special defence of consent, denying that any attempted rape had taken place.

That was dismissed by the jury.

Judge Alison Stirling said: “I shall adjourn the diet for sentence until 9.30am of Friday the 6th of February 2026 in the High Court of Justiciary sitting at Edinburgh for the purpose of obtaining a criminal justice social work report and you will be remained in custody meantime.”

Detective Chief Inspector Steph Garnett, from Police Scotland’s Public Protection Unit, said: “Cristiano will now face the consequences of his despicable actions and I hope this brings comfort to his victim.

“He deliberately approached a woman travelling alone on a flight and sexually assaulted her. Fortunately she had an opportunity to alert a member of the cabin crew and she was taken to another part of the plane where she was safe.

“I also hope this conviction gives confidence to anyone who is the victim of sexual crime to come forward. We will thoroughly investigate reports made to us and we have specially trained officers to provide support."

Anyone wishing to report a sexual crime can do so via 101 or contact Crimestoppers on 0800 555 111.