Man fined for exposing himself and masturbating on a plane

An Australian man has been fined for exposing himself and masturbating in front of a woman on a Darwin-bound flight. Lucas Steven Knudson argued he was "just adjusting himself" because his jeans were too tight, a Darwin court heard yesterday.

In yesterday's case, the Darwin Magistrates Court heard Knudson, 32, had just landed on board Virgin Blue flight DJ449 from Brisbane when he was escorted off the plane by Australian Federal Police after masturbating for "maybe four minutes" underneath his tray table in view of Kununurra mother-of-two Simone Holt.

The court heard the Ballina man - wearing jeans, a flannelette shirt, white socks and thongs - told airport officers her story was "bull****". But the two police officers who spoke to him after the midnight flight on April 11 said his jeans were not "overly tight".



After a two-hour hearing, magistrate Tanya Fong Lim found Knudson guilty of committing an indecent act on the plane under the Commonwealth Crimes Aviation Act.

Knudson - who described himself as a "jack of all trades" - was travelling to Darwin to work at a Territory crocodile park. He sang in court as he waited for his hearing to start - but was shaking when he was found guilty later yesterday afternoon.

Ms Fong Lim said it was totally unacceptable to masturbate in public, "particularly in an aeroplane situation" and fined Knudson $2500.