A Woman Who Spat At And Racially Abused Indian Flight Crew Members Jailed For 6 Months
Throughout the incident, the crew remained calm and behaved decently.
By Sadho Ram — 06 Apr 2019, 07:23 PM
This is Simone Burns
She is a 50-year-old international criminal lawyer from the United Kingdom.
Simone Burns outside Isleworth crown court in London on Thursday, 4 April.
Image via Nick Edwards/Mail OnlineOn Thursday, 4 April, a UK court sentenced the 50-year-old lawyer to six months in jail for being drunk onboard an Air India flight and two months for assaulting its crew members in the business class
According to a report in The Guardian, the criminal lawyer will serve her sentences concurrently after she previously pleaded guilty to the charges.
London's Isleworth Crown Court Judge Nicholas Wood also ordered the woman to pay a compensation of GPB300 (RM1,600) to the flight attendant she assaulted.
While pronouncing the sentence, Judge Nicholas reportedly observed, "The experience of a drunk and irrational person in the confines of an aircraft is frightening, not least on a long-haul flight, and poses a potential risk to safety. Spitting straight into a crew member's face at close range is a particularly insulting and upsetting act."
The judge noted that the abuse was racially motivated.
"You were drunk and obnoxious almost from the beginning to the end. You were abusive, contemptuous and confrontational and used appalling language," he said, adding that "such offences are often committed by people of impeccable character."
The judge noted that the racially aggravated offence must have left Air India passengers "extremely upset" by the woman's behaviour
According to The Guardian, the court was told that a crew member, on whom the woman had spat on, said: "In the 34 years I have worked for Air India this is the first time I have been treated like this by a woman. I felt abused."
During the incident, which happened on 11 November last year, the lawyer was initially served three bottles of red wine
However, she wanted a fourth bottle of red wine, which the cabin crew denied her for being too drunk. To which she declared, "I'm a f#ckig international lawyer."
The 50-year-old woman, who has worked with refugees around the world, also called the cabin crew "Indian money-grabbing c#nts" and smoked a cigarette in the toilets.
Throughout the incident, the crew remained calm and behaved decently.
Her racist tirade was captured on video, in which she can be seen on her feet and swaying by the time the camera started recording
"And you treat business class passengers like that?
"Who are international criminal lawyers for the Palestinian people? Who are actually working for your.. All you.. Oh, you're the captain, aren't you? You're the captain. I'm working for all your people," she can be heard saying.
"The f#cking Rohingya, the f#cking Quechua, the f#cking people of all nations. For you. International criminal lawyer. Don't get any money for it by the way.
"But you can't give me a fucking glass of wine? Is that correct so [indecipherable].
"And also… also, also, also, leader of the [bleeped] boycott movement, so if I say 'boycott air India' [bleeped] - done. If I say boycott Jet, done. Yeah? Do you understand me? Do you understand me, yes? So you can't give me a wee bottle of wine, [bleeped]," Simone says as she swayed and jabbed her finger towards the pilot's chest in her foul-mouthed tirade, during which she also claimed that she could get them all shot dead.