A hostage-taker who held a woman cleaner on board a Cathay Pacific jet for 2.5 hours was jailed yesterday for five years after a judge said the man's actions could have ended in a shootout at Chek Lap Kok.
The man - known only as Todd and of unknown nationality - remained impassive in the dock as Madam Justice Clare-Marie Beeson passed sentence.
Todd, who is believed to be about 30 and speaks an unknown dialect and little English, appeared in court in the same shirt that he wore during the ordeal on July 31 last year.
He had earlier pleaded guilty to one count of carrying an imitation firearm with intent to commit an offence and one count of false imprisonment.
Madam Justice Beeson said she accepted defence counsel Corinne Remedios' submission that Todd's actions were a crude, self-destructive cry for help.
She ordered Todd to serve five years for having the imitation firearm. He was also sentenced to three years and four months for holding the woman hostage, to be served concurrently.
Todd claimed to come from Hassan, a village of 200 people near the borders of northern Thailand, Burma and Laos, and not on any map. He said he only carried out the act in a desperate attempt to get home.