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Three rowdy men who knocked down and kicked a female airline employee for refusing to take a selfie with them have received plenty of time to contemplate their actions – from the inside of a prison cell.

The incident, which surfaced in court last week, happened at Thanh Hoa airport in Vietnam last year, when a group of three men, reportedly drunk, visited the airport to see off a friend.

The trio then decided to harass one of the ground staff of Vietjet Air, Vietnam’s largest budget airline.

Vietjet Air is known for using attractive young female flight attendants in bikinis in promotions to draw customers. Its flight attendants don’t wear bikinis on duty, however, and neither do its ground staff.

In the airport’s departure hall, the men asked a uniformed female Vietjet Air employee named Le Thi Giang to be in a selfie with them. She obliged, but the men then said they wanted a second selfie.

When Le Thi Giang refused, explaining that she was on duty, the three men assaulted her.

Vietjet Air employee Le Thi Giang on the floor after the brazen assault

Disturbing footage taken by airport security cameras and published by Vietnamese online news outlet VN Express International shows the incident graphically, with one of the men slapping Le Thi Giang full-force across the face and then kicking her to the ground.

An airport manager who tried to stop the men was also punched in the face and two security staff at the airport were then attacked. One of the victim’s colleagues who filmed the assault on her phone was threatened.

The three attackers, Le Van Nhi, Le Trung Dung, and Pham Huu An, appeared as defendants in a Thanh Hoa Province court last week.

In their defence, Le Van Nhi, 41, outrageously blamed the victim, saying her  “impolite” behaviour incited the assault.

Airport security cameras captured the assault

Le Van Nhi said: “When I grabbed her hand to ask for another photo, she said I had three seconds to take it off her. That upset me, so I hit her. Had she been more polite to us, we would not have reacted that way.”

The court took a dim view of Le Van Nhi’s “explanation” and sentenced him to three years in prison.

The other two defendants, Le Trung Dung and Pham Huu An, received 34 months jail and 22 months jail respectively.

The regular Vietjet Air uniform does not include bikinis

The men also received a one-year flight ban, but they won’t be going anywhere for a while.

None of the trio looked happy with their sentences. Vietnamese prisons are often overcrowded and are considered harsh by world standards. Prisoners normally share cells with about 20-40 inmates, with each prisoner allocated a space of two square metres for their own sleeping area (if they’re lucky) and one-hour visits allowed once a month.

Footage of the blatant airport assault can be viewed on VN Express International’s website here.

Vietjet Air is run by Nguyen Thi Phuong Thao – Vietnam’s first female billionaire.

Vietjet flight attendants in festive attire, reserved for special occasions

Written by Peter Needham