37-year-old American, La Andy Hien Duc, made a bomb threat last month on board a Singapore Airlines flight SQ33, resulting in the plane being escorted to Changi Airport by RSAF fighter jets.
He will be given a stern warning for making the bomb threat but is set to plead guilty to a separate charge of slapping another person on the flight, according to Channel NewsAsia.
The court heard on 27 October that the prosecution will be giving him a stern warning, following a report on his mental capabilities by the Institute of Mental Health.
Andy’s lawyer, Johannes Hadi, said that his client is schizophrenic.
He is set to plead guilty next month (November) to one charge of voluntarily causing hurt, for slapping another man’s face on board the SQ33 flight from San Francisco to Singapore.
Recap
The man who was behind the bomb scare on board a Singapore Airlines flight SQ33, has been revealed to be a 37-year-old American, La Andy Hien Duc.
He has since been charged in court on 29 September for causing alarm and voluntarily causing hurt during the now-infamous incident, where he allegedly claimed that there was a bomb onboard the aircraft.
His urine test also came back positive for controlled drugs.
What happened?
SQ33 arrived from San Francisco to Changi Airport on 28 September at about 5.50am, while being escorted by RSAF fighter jets.
Andy had made a bomb threat before hitting a cabin crew member, and he was then restrained onboard the flight.
The Singapore Police said that apart from shouting that there was a bomb on the plane, Andy also grabbed the luggage of another passenger from the overhead compartment.
Cabin crew staff tried to stop the man but were allegedly assaulted by him, and the crew later found no suspicious items inside the luggage after checking.
The man was charged in Singapore under Singapore law despite the offence taking place outside of Singapore, this is because it took place on an aircraft that was controlled by Singapore, according to the Tokyo Convention Act 1971.
The police said that they will take action against those who cause public alarm with false threats:
“Beyond the fear and inconvenience caused to other members of the public, the making of false threats comes at a cost, in the extensive public resources that have to be deployed to deal with the incident.”