Shabelle Media Network (Mogadishu)
8 February 2008
A 33-year-old Somali woman has allegedly stabbed two pilots in mid-air has been charged with hijacking and three counts of assault after she tried to hijack a plane in mid-air in New Zealand.
She allegedly also injured a passenger, threatened others and demanded to be flown to Australia.
She was arrested by armed police dog handlers at Christchurch Airport after allegedly stabbing the pilots of an Eagle Air flight.
The woman was seated directly behind the door to the cockpit before entering it 10 minutes into the flight, armed with a knife.
Police say the woman demanded that the pilots take the plane - which was only flying the short trip from Blenheim to Christchurch - over to Australia.
A passenger who tried to restrain the woman also sustained knife injuries.
The Somalian woman allegedly threatened other passengers and continued to wave the knife throughout the flight.
She was grappling with the aeroplane's controls throughout the flight, police said in a press conference late this afternoon.
It was only when the pilot bought the plane into land that rough conditions caused the woman to lose her footing.
At this point, police say the co-pilot then wrestled the woman to the ground.
Members of the armed offenders squad with dogs then stormed the plane.
A taxi driver says the woman involved in the mid-air stabbing of two pilots seemed "vague" early today when he took her to Blenheim airport.
The taxi driver, who identified himself as Colin, told Newstalk ZB: "She was a wee bit vague.
This is the first such bad act carried out by A Somali national, particularly a female ever since the Somalis began fleeing from their war stricken nation in 1991.
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How is it possible that a knife-bearing woman could hold an entire airplane at bay? Did none of the passengers have enough fortitude to stand up and smite this woman. What a bunch of wimps the world is now producing, wimps who would rather go down in flames than standing up to a single woman. Were I there I would have put her out of action in 10 seconds even though I might be injured in the effort. The only way for society to function is for its members to persevere. In this case, they did not. They wimped out in a most cowardly and disgusting manner. Our men have turned to cowardice and our women to complicity.
Solution Prevention is better than cure. Stricter security of passengers BEFORE airflight searching of lugguage etc., Somali woman needs phychiatric evaluation & treatment. God knows her background. She may have experienced & seen terrible cruelty living in Somali. Have mercy.
Clearly this is a psychiatric case and the accused needs rather an immediate help. Such cases are easily exacerbated by lack of understanding in terms of language, racial comments, un-pleasant attitude, and more so the very fact that flying itself may cause a huge pressure on such passengers. In the current issue, it is hard to rule out all of the above and thus I would assume her innocent until proven otherwise. But even in the event she is guilt of some thing, she should be given the benefit of her background. Yes, have mercy.
Death is the only just verdict. She not only stabbed the pilots hoping the plane would crash but tried to westle the controls of the airplane and crash it herself. Death is the only just verdict for trying to murder scores of airborne people and God knows how many more on the ground.