Bali hijack scare: Accused man tells Brisbane court he was trying to find a toilet following panic attack
A Tweed Heads man has told a Brisbane court he was trying to find a toilet when he sparked a hijack scare on board a flight to Bali on Anzac Day.
Matt Christopher Lockley, from New South Wales, has pleaded not guilty in the Brisbane Magistrates Court to interfering with a crew member during the April 25 flight to Denpasar.
The prosecution alleged that during the flight, Lockley tried to enter the cockpit before he was restrained by passengers.
Lockley, 28, said he was flying to Indonesia to find his wife when the security incident happened on board Virgin Australia Flight 41.
The plumber said a few hours into the flight, he became concerned that someone had tampered with his bag.
"Someone could've easily put something in my multi-vitamins or swapped them, so I didn't feel comfortable having them, he said.
That is when he said his first panic attack set in.
"I felt like I was going to faint, I felt disorientated ... I needed to get to a toilet," he said.
But the toilets at the back of the plane were occupied, so he made his way past business class to the front of the plane.
"I knocked on the toilet door, but as I found out, it wasn't the toilet door. It was the cockpit door," he said.
Lockley denied he had taken drugs or alcohol during or prior to the flight.
Pilot tells court he heard banging, rattling on cockpit door
A Virgin Australia pilot said he heard banging and rattling on the cockpit door during a flight from Brisbane to Bali, prompting him to notify authorities on the ground before speeding up the plane.
Pilot Neil Cooper told the trial the cabin crew had been dealing with a medical emergency when: "I heard bang, bang, bang, rattle, rattle, rattle - it wasn't a friendly knock," he said.
He said authorities in Bali and Australia were notified and he sped up the plane and landed it in Denpasar, where the flight was met with security officers who escorted Lockley off the plane.
Accused was pounding on cockpit door: flight attendant
Flight attendant Angela Demo told the court Lockley was seated in row 25F when he caught her attention.
She said he asked if there were any police on board and that he thought someone had tampered with his bag.
She said Lockley was moved to another seat, but soon after she saw him standing at the front of the plane using his phone.
Ms Demo told the trial that about 15 minutes later, she noticed the rope partition to first class had been removed and then saw Lockley pounding on the cockpit door and trying to turn the handle.
The court heard Lockley was guarded by three passengers before being escorted off the plane when it landed in Denpasar.
