Two teenage women who telephoned threats to an international
airline claiming to be suicide bombers narrowly avoided jail
terms in Christchurch today.
Georgina Lilliam Langley, 19, and Stephanie Kate Austin, 18,
had pleaded guilty in Christchurch District Court to two
charges of threatening to harm people or property, at an
earlier hearing.
The charges related to two telephone calls made by the pair
to Singapore Airlines during which they disguised their
voices and pretended to be terrorists.
In the first call on November 5, they attempted to book eight
business class tickets before threatening staff and stating
their intention to blow up a plane, insisting, "Everyone will
die today".
In the second call, made on November 29, the women said a
bomb had been planted in the cockpit of a plane and would
explode within 10 minutes. Singapore Airlines alerted the
commander of an airborne flight out of Auckland and staff
conducted a discreet search. No bomb was found.
Another plane on the ground was searched and police increased
their presence as passengers boarded the aircraft.
Austin's defence counsel, Vanessa Sugrue said: "While the
offending was dramatic and extreme, it was not sinister."
She said her client was deeply remorseful for her actions and
added that through her actions, she had now lost her ability
to pursue her chosen career as a nanny.
April Kelland, defending Langley, added: "The offending had
been stupid, not thought out in any way and has been a
salutary lesson to them."
In sentencing the duo, Judge Jane Farish said both were
"equally culpable in causing a huge amount of anxiety and
concern for an awful lot of people".
She said her starting point for sentencing was a custodial
sentence but this was mitigated by the pair's immediate
guilty pleas.
Judge Farish sentenced both women to three months of
community detention with a 12 hour daily curfew, 200 hours of
community work and 12 months' supervision.
They will be assessed for their alcohol use and must
undertake any counselling or treatment as directed by the
probation service.
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