Airline passenger jailed following 'inappropriate' mid-flight rant: 'She
is thoroughly ashamed'
A woman has been sentenced to six months in prison
after going on an allegedly intoxicated rant in the middle of her flight.
Demi Burton was on an Etihad Airways flight from Abu Dhabi to
Manchester, England, in May when the incident occurred, the Telegraph reported.
The 20-year-old, who is from the U.K., reportedly went on an "aggressive,"
sexually-explicit rant after being told she would no longer be served alcohol.
"You may as well just land the plane now then!" Burton said after being
denied alcohol, according to court documents. After that confrontation, she
allegedly began to harass both passengers and flight attendants for nearly four
hours.
From there, Burton then proceeded to ask at least two men if they
wanted to join the "mile-high club," an "increasingly impropriate" request she
reportedly reiterated despite their attempts to ignore her.
"Both tried
to end the conversation with her but she carried on," Claire Brocklebank, the
prosecutor in Burton's case, said. "One said he felt quite shocked by her
comments and people around her started to ask her to be quiet as others could
hear."
Ultimately, several staff members tried to calm Burton down, but
she reportedly became violent and headbutted a flight attendant. Court documents
state that it took as many as six people to restrain the 20-year-old, after
which an anesthesiologist was brought in to help sedate her.
The
anesthesiologist told the court that the struggle was "worse than anything he'd
seen," adding that he was bitten during the confrontation.
Martin
Callery, Burton's defense lawyer, said her client was drinking due to her fear
of flying and anxiety about seeing her family, who she described as "very
controlling" and "very abusive."
"[Burton] is thoroughly ashamed of
herself and because she is remorseful," Callery said. "She is utterly
embarrassed at the way she behaved. It is completely out of character as far as
she is concerned."
However, Circuit Judge John Edwards was stern in his
sentencing, saying that Burton had to be "dealt with in a way that might deter
others."
"Your behavior was unpleasant, violent and persistent over a
lengthy period," the judge said. "So that a doctor, an anesthetist by profession
remarks in all his dealings in A&E had not witnessed such aggressive
behavior before."
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar
Merk: Bare medlemmer av denne bloggen kan legge inn en kommentar.