World News | American Man Sentenced to 4 Weeks in Jail for Slapping SIA Crew
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. An American man, who made a bomb threat on a Singapore Airlines flight from San Francisco in September, was sentenced to four weeks in prison on Friday for slapping a cabin crew member.
Singapore, Nov 4 (PTI) An American man, who made a bomb threat on a Singapore Airlines flight from San Francisco in September, was sentenced to four weeks in prison on Friday for slapping a cabin crew member.
La Andy Hien Duc, 37, an undiagnosed schizophrenic, was, however, given a discharge amounting to acquittal for making the bomb threat, after the prosecution administered a stern warning to him.
He pleaded guilty to one count of voluntarily causing hurt on board flight SQ33 from San Francisco to Singapore on September 28.
The bomb scare triggered the deployment of Republic of Singapore Air Force F-16C/D fighter jets, which escorted the plane safely to Changi Airport.
Officers from the Airport Police Division and Special Operations Command's K-9 Unit, as well as the Singapore Armed Forces' Chemical, Biological, Radiological and Explosives Defence Group, were mobilised to investigate the threat, which turned out to be false.
As the jail term is backdated since his first date of arrest on September 28, he will not serve any additional jail time, according to a Channel News Asia report.
The court heard that La was an undiagnosed schizophrenic when he boarded flight SQ33 on September 26 in San Francisco.
He had been hearing voices for about one-and-a-half years before that, said his lawyer Johannes Hadi.
He believed he was a holy deity who had to go to Phuket for a pilgrimage. The flight was his first overseas trip since childhood.
La boarded the flight alone, intending to transit in Singapore on the way to Phuket.
He knowingly consumed a chocolate bar infused with cannabis, the court heard. On the flight, La heard a voice in his head telling him there was a bomb on the plane and asking him to shout to alert others.
He did so twice. He then saw a white light in one of the overhead compartments and heard a voice telling him the bomb was in there.
He also dashed to another overhead compartment in a bid to take down more bags.
The air steward and the inflight manager then escorted La to the galley of the plane and the chief steward was alerted to the situation.
In the galley, La tried to dash out twice. After a while, he said he was feeling better and asked the cabin crew to release their grip on him.
When they did so, he slapped the air steward's cheek.
La was eventually restrained with straps and monitored closely for the rest of the flight.
The plane landed at a remote location in Changi Airport on September 28, but passengers disembarked only at about 9.10 am due to the related delays.
Deputy Public Prosecutor Lim Ying Min said she and the defence were in agreement that the appropriate sentence in this case would be the time already served by La.
He has since been diagnosed with schizophrenia by the Institute of Mental Health (IMH), said Hadi, who represented La with lawyer Hilary Low.
He was not previously diagnosed in California, where La is from, according to the Channel report.
Hadi cited the IMH report, saying La's delusionary beliefs, auditory hallucinations and psychotic thought disorder were highly contributory to the offences.
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)