Prison for drunk Qantas passenger
A Qantas passenger whose behaviour was described by a Perth magistrate today as drunken, aggressive and obnoxious will spend four months behind bars and has been left with a $40,000 bill to cover the cost of fuel dumped during an emergency landing for his arrest.
Justin Richard Cooke was sentenced by Magistrate Dianne Scaddan after pleading guilty to seven Federal offences arising from his drunken outburst on a flight en route from Perth to Japan via Sydney on December 17.
Nervous about being reunited with his young daughter and former partner, the 35-year-old had been drinking vodka and can recollect little of the incident, which included assaulting a cabin crew member by punching him in the chest and spitting in his face.
The incident was sparked after Cooke was told he could not smoke a cigarette on the plane and was then observed to be incoherent.
He had to be restrained in flexi-cuffs and, after he could not be subdued, the plane was diverted to make an emergency landing in Cairns.
Ms Scaddan said Cooke had failed to appreciate the significance of his behaviour, believing the emergency landing was an over-reaction by Qantas.
She said that while he had pleaded guilty at the first opportunity, he did not appreciate the consequences of his disregard for the other 351 passengers aboard the flight.
She said spitting in the face of a cabin crew member was a "degrading and disgusting" act and Cooke had also threatened to kill the attendant, his wife and his daughter.
"In my view your behaviour was appalling," Ms Scaddan said.
Although she took into account Cooke's minor criminal record and his history of volunteering and working for the disadvantaged, she said the offences were so serious and the need for general deterrence was so great that a term of immediate imprisonment was the only option.
Cooke was sentenced to a nine-month jail term, but will be released on a $3000 good-behaviour bond after four months.
He was also fined a total of $2250 and a reparation order for $39,287 to cover the cost of the fuel dumped during the emergency landing was made by the court.
