A man who was arrested and charged after he slapped a female Tigerair employee at Sydney airport because his flight was cancelled went back to the airport to book another flight on the same airline.
On April 21, Norwegian national Isam Abduljabbar Mankhi Al-Kuhaili shouted in Arabic before slapping the 26-year-old woman across the face after she told him his flight from Sydney to Melbourne had been cancelled.
He was arrested at the airport and taken to Mascot Police Station, but after being released on bail Al-Kuhaili went back to the Tigerair departure terminal and tried to book another flight, but the airline refused. Tigerair then contacted police.
Al-Kuhaili appeared before Waverley Local Court on Wednesday on assault charges where magistrate Lisa Stapleton convicted him but did not impose a further penalty.
He told police he believed the reason he was not moved to another flight on the day of the assault was because of his religious beliefs.
The court heard Al-Kuhaili was supposed to meet his sister in Australia but she was diagnosed with cancer and died in a Sydney hospital before he arrived.
The defence said Al-Kuhaili, who required an interpreter in court, was depressed after the recent death of his sister and had a history of paranoia and depression.
The woman he slapped, who was Muslim, was "visibly shaken" and upset after the incident, according to Australian Federal Police documents presented to the court.
Tigerair on Wednesday said the airline had a zero-tolerance policy when it came to inappropriate behaviour of any kind.
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