A Somali refugee, whose attempted hijacking of a New Zealand flight at knife-point left terrified passengers and crew fearing for their lives, was yesterday sentenced to nine years in jail.
Asha Ali Abdille, 36, had pleaded guilty to the attempted hijacking of a 19-seat aircraft on a domestic flight and trying to force the pilot to fly to Australia.
In the Christchurch High Court in the South Island, Justice Christine French jailed Abdille for nine years with a non-parole period of six years.
The court heard how Abdille took three knives on board a flight from Blenheim to Christchurch in February 2008 and used one to cut the pilot.
She demanded he fly to Australia, but when he said they did not have enough fuel, she suggested they fly into the sea.
When the plane landed at Christchurch, Abdille was overpowered by the pilot and first officer.
The pilot received cuts to both hands and needed extensive surgery to reattach muscles, tendons and a nerve. He was also cut on his back. The first officer was cut on his foot and a passenger was also wounded. A depositions hearing in December 2008 was told Abdille wanted to either hijack the plane to Australia or crash and kill everyone on board.
The pilot, whose name was suppressed, told the hearing he feared all on board were going to die after the woman said she had a bomb in her bag.
“I had serious concerns for the safety of myself, the first officer, all the passengers and the airplane,” the pilot said.
“I started talking to her about her family and this seemed to calm her down. She would be ranging from calm to tearful and then become aggressive,” the pilot said. “She said at one stage that we were all going to die.”
At the sentencing, defense lawyer Elizabeth Bulger read an emotional statement from Abdille, telling the story of her life and her difficulties.
Abdille said she was from a family of 17 children who had to flee Mogadishu when the civil war erupted in 1991.
She told of being with her grandfather when he was chopped to pieces by bandits and also told of the dangers and violence in refugee camps before she arrived in New Zealand without her family in 1994.
While in New Zealand, Abdille had a number of convictions including threatening to pour gasoline on a Red Cross member and throwing a bucket of feces over a police officer.
A doctor assessed that at the time of the hijacking she was suffering from post-traumatic stress disorder and a major depressive episode.
French said there were no sentencing guidelines because it was the first hijacking in New Zealand, but the lawyers had made submissions about overseas cases in which the penalties ranged from five to 25 years.
She said the starting point for sentencing for the attempted hijacking was 15 years, but Abdille’s guilty plea and background of mental health issues were taken into account, reducing it to nine years.
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