Airline executive in 'nut rage' case freed

[mage]Former Korean Air Lines executive Heather Cho has walked free after nearly five months in prison after an appeals court suspended the sentence she was given for her outburst over the way she had been served macadamia nuts.

Cho, the daughter of the airline's chairman, was sentenced in February this year to one year in prison over the incident at New York's John F. Kennedy airport on December 5 last year, where she forced a plane to return to its gate in order to expel the flight's crew chief.

The "nut rage" case provoked mirth as well as outrage in South Korea, where many people are fed up with what they see as heavy-handed conduct by the rich and powerful.

Her lawyer said after the ruling that Cho felt remorse for the suffering she caused among the crew members who were subjected to her outburst.

Prosecutors were not immediately available for comment on whether they would appeal against the ruling.

Cho did not answer questions from reporters as she left the court surrounded by Korean Air employees and was driven away in a black car.

The court upheld Cho's conviction, finding her guilty of breaking South Korea's aviation law, but reduced her sentence to 10 months, which it suspended. It cited her previous lack of a criminal record and that she is the mother of young twins.

A lower court ruled in February that the airline's former vice -president and head of in-flight service had violated the law by ordering the plane to return to its gate.

She resigned from all posts at the airline after the incident became public.

Cho is the oldest of Korean Air chairman Cho Yang-ho's three children. Her siblings are executives with the airline.

Add a Comment