‘Bizarre' twist in ‘terrifying' plane incident
Shadi Taiseer Alsaaydeh, a 47-year-old Jordanian national, tried to open the doors of a plane in the middle of a flight coming into Sydney from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
He was moved to another seat where he again tried to open one of the doors, assaulting an airline crew member as staff and passengers restrained him.
Mr Alsaaydeh pleaded guilty to charges of endangering the safety of aircraft and assaulting, threatening and intimidating the airline crew.
The offences can carry a maximum of 10 years imprisonment; however, magistrate Jennifer Atkinson dropped the charges on Friday morning. A man who tried to open the doors of a plane mid-flight and assaulted a crew member who tried to stop him has had his charges completely dropped. NewsWire / James Gourley Credit: News Corp Australia
Having spent months in custody, Mr Alsaaydeh dialled into court through an audiovisual link, often sitting with his head down and wiping away tears.
The court was told how Mr Alsaaydeh had only recently been prescribed the sleeping medication Stilnox by a doctor before his flight to Australia, and it was likely side effects of the drug caused him to embark on the 'terrifying' ordeal.
'This is different to a situation where you might have been on prescription medication for a long period … what happened on that flight likely was you suffering from one of the adverse and unusual side effects of that medication,' Ms Atkinson told the court.
She said she had seen previous reports of 'really bizarre behaviour' as a result of the medication, with a pharmacologist's report revealing Mr Alsaaydeh's actions as described by airline staff were consistent with the unusual side effects.
'The bizarre behaviour described by airline staff is entirely consistent with what is known as parasomnia or complex sleep behaviour associated with amnesia and hallucinations in which an individual engages in potentially dangerous actions, effectively in a sleep state, without any awareness or memory of any activity after recovering from the effects of the drug,' Ms Atkinson quoted from the report.
She said Mr Alsaaydeh had previously travelled overseas to represent the Jordanian government, he was 'well regarded' in Jordan and had no criminal record.
'But on the 5th of April you got on a flight from Kuala Lumpur to Sydney and you took Stilnox and other medication and what happened after that was incidents on the plane where you tried to open the door and where you assaulted cabin staff,' she said.
Mr Alsaaydeh nodded as Ms Atkinson said how it would have been a 'terrifying time' for others on-board the plane.
Ms Atkinson ultimately dropped the charges, with Mr Alsaaydeh set to leave Australia.
'It is inexpedient to inflict any punishment and without proceeding to a conviction I dismiss the charge,' she said.
Mr Alsaaydeh immediately stood and clasped his hands together upon her decision.
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