The Boroko District Court has convicted the woman who attacked a member of an airline crew at the Jackson’s International Airport on 7 October, 2016.
Brenda Cangah of Wara Kum, Hagen Central in the Western Highlands Province, was arrested on Oct 10 last year and charged with unlawful assault under section 6(3) of the Summary Offense Act.
Magistrate Laura Kuvi yesterday found Cangah, 33, (defendant) guilty of unlawfully assaulting Elisabeth David (complainant) after a trial was conducted.
Cangah will return to court next Thursday where submissions will be made on the appropriate sentence the court should impose on her. Her penalty sentence will be made known at a later date.
The court found that on 7 October, 2016, at about 12.30pm, Cangah boarded the Boeing 767 aircraft on PX 005 at the Jackson’s International Airport, destined for Brisbane, Australia.
At that time, the complainant (David) was attending to passengers at the business class section. While doing so, Cangah approached her with a bottle of Red Door perfume in her hand, pulled David’s scarf and hit her with the bottle.
David suffered a scratch to her left cheek. Security personnel then intervened and escorted Cangah out the aircraft.
Magistrate Kuvi said in court that both women at one time were in a relationship with a man and had unresolved issues from it.
She also said Cangah had those unresolved issues with the man and should have approached him instead of assaulting David.
David (complainant) told court during trial that she is now the legal wife of the man and had been in a long term relationship with him since 2012, while Cangah (defendant) said she was in a relationship with the same man in 2014.
They also have a case in the family court with the outcome of the case unknown to the District Court in Boroko at the time evidence was called and presented during the trial.
Cangah, in her evidence during the trial, told the court she left her luggage in the overhead locker and confronted David over their “unresolved issues” and to get off the plane to solve that.
Magistrate Kuvi accepted David’s version of the incident over Cangah’s because she was of the view that Cangah’s version is inconsistent with common sense and logic.
During cross examination by counsels, Cangah said she was provoked by David.