Aussie-Indian man pleads guilty to unruly behaviour on Air Canada flight
Darpan News Desk IANS, 01 Mar, 2023 01:03 PM
Melbourne, March 1 (IANS) An Australian-Indian man pleaded guilty to one count of behaving in an offensive and disorderly manner in an aircraft, and was fined AUS$750 by a local court this week.
Hardik Patel, 46, from Rooty Hill in western Sydney, became aggressive and abusive onboard a 15-hour Air Canada flight from Vancouver due to heavy drinking, and was arrested upon his arrival at Sydney Airport earlier this month, the Daily Mail reported.
The Air Canada crew found one litre bottle of Bacardi and a water bottle containing a liquid smelling strongly of alcohol with Patel. The crew confiscated the bottles as according to the Civil Aviation and Safety Authority, airline passengers can only consume alcohol provided by cabin crew during a flight.
The crew reported that Patel had then become aggressive shortly before AC33 from Vancouver touched down.
The Australian Federal Police officers, who arrested Patel, observed he had a "flushed face and a strong alcohol odour".
According to a statement of facts submitted in the court, Patel "had poor ability to understand instructions and indifferent demeanour, which escalated to being abusive towards police".
When the police told him that it is an offence to consume one's own alcohol in an aircraft, Patel's responses were "largely aggressive and incoherent", the Daily Mail reported.
He continued to ask police why he was arrested and "became more verbally aggressive and argumentative towards police officers, yelling and screaming and trying to engage with members of the public," the report said.
The police then decided to take Patel into custody "for his own safety and welfare and the welfare and safety of those around him", the statement submitted to the court said.
The Downing Centre Local Court on Monday convicted Patel and fined him AUS$750.
The World Health Organization’s Europe office said it has begun discussions with Russia to try to obtain more information about the experimental COVID-19 vaccine the country recently approved.
That didn't take long: Just weeks after making history as the running mate for Democratic nominee Joe Biden, Sen. Kamala Harris will be the subject of a new picture book.
Many colleges are welcoming students back for in-person learning and dormitory living this fall semester. Looming over everything: Campuses could shut back down at any time.
A story that is cause for concern and shock. Thousands in the Chinese city of Wuhan, where the virus originated attended an electronic dance music pool party without wearing masks and ignored COVID-19 regulations of physical distancing completely.
Lawyers for the chief financial officer of Chinese tech giant Huawei want the B.C. Supreme Court to order the release of more confidential documents in an extradition case that’s soured relations between Ottawa and Beijing.
A federal judge blocked the Trump administration on Monday from enforcing a new regulation that would roll back health care protections for transgender people.
