A Kenyan is among 38 families to be compensated by the British Airways (BA) after one of its pilots sexually abused her daughters.
The airline agreed to pay an unspecified amount to the families of Simon Wood’s victims across East Africa.
The amount to be compensated has not been revealed because the airline and law firm that represented the victims signed a confidentiality agreement. The abuse happened nearly three years ago when the pilot worked at the airline.
According to the woman whose daughters were aged nine and 16 then, whenever Mr Wood made a stopover in Nairobi, he would take them to a hotel for a treat and shower the children with gifts.
Children’s gifts
“We had no idea he would have done that to children... the children loved him so much,” she said.
When she discovered the man, a bachelor, had been molesting her children, she was heartbroken.
“I was very angry because I couldn’t believe someone who I knew as a friend, family, would do that. Afterwards, one of my daughters felt like no-one cared for her as her older sister tried to commit suicide,” the mother said after the revelations by the British media.
Yesterday lawyer Nichola Marshall, of Leigh Day, said: “For three years we have been fighting for compensation for these girls, whose childhoods were destroyed by the sexual abuse they were subjected.”
BA termed the allegations against Wood shocking and agreed to the payment but has denied liability.
The settlement comes two and a half years after British media revealed how Wood, 54, had molested scores of girls on overseas trips.
Following a tip-off, officers arrested him over the allegations at Heathrow Airport in July 2013. In a search, explicit images of African youngsters were found on his laptops.
He appeared in court on August 16, 2013, charged with possessing indecent images and indecently assaulting an eight-year-old girl. He committed suicide on August 18 days before he was due to appear in a UK court to face abuse sexual charges.
During his 16-year career with BA, it emerged that Wood chose unpopular routes in and out of East Africa, using his stays there to prey on children in the slums.
According to Leigh Day, the law firm that sued Mr Wood on behalf of the 38 victims, he allegedly molested girls between the ages of five and 13 in schools and orphanages in Kenya, Uganda and Tanzania between 2003 and 2013. His first known contact with children in Africa came in 2001 when he visited an orphanage in Nairobi’s Karen. During Easter holiday in 2002, he was among 20 crew members who volunteered to spend the holiday with the youngsters.
Wood first came to the attention of police when he was accused of an indecent assault on an eight-year-old girl while volunteering at a children’s camp.
But prosecutors ruled there was insufficient evidence to charge him. After his crimes came to light, questions were asked why he was allowed to work near children.
The present lawsuit centered on whether BA could be held liable for the actions of Wood and whether the airline ‘had a duty of care for the children abused in the countries Wood visited whilst working for the airline and taking part in charity.
