Drunk air rage passenger was on her way to rehab
Alison Devine downed a bottle of wine and then several small bottles of gin before getting on board an Aer Lingus flight from Glasgow to Carrickfinn Airport.
However, the 41-year-old mother-of-two had to be restrained by cabin crew when she became violent on the flight.
She attacked an air hostess and had to be restrained by another passenger before the plane landed.
Ms Devine was arrested on landing and appeared at a sitting of Letterkenny District Court yesterday on two charges.
Garda Eamon McGinley told Judge Paul Kelly that he arrested Ms Devine under the State Airport Shannon Group Act of 2014 for both a charge of being drunk and also assaulting air hostess Haley Walsh.
When the charge of assault was put to Ms Devine at Letterkenny Garda Station, she replied: “She didn’t like me from the start, she was obnoxious.”
Garda McGinley told the court that the air hostess had suffered bruising and was quite traumatised when Ms Devine grabbed her by the wrists.
He stressed Ms Devine was not served alcohol on the Aer Lingus flight and how the plane would not have been able to land in Donegal but for the intervention of another passenger in helping to restrain the accused woman.
Solicitor Patsy Gallagher told the court that his client, of 279 Main Street, Bogside, Lanarkshire, Scotland, was pleading guilty to both charges.
Judge Paul Kelly said he was agreeing to bail in the case on the understanding that Ms Devine attend the rehab centre for which she had come to Ireland.
