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Australian jailed for making false bomb threat on Singapore-Perth Scoot flight
- Kevin Francis Hawkins was sentenced to six months’ jail after he pleaded guilty to making a fake bomb threat under the United Nations Act
- A medical report showed Hawkins experienced a relapse of schizophrenia that contributed to his actions
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Hoping to get arrested to avoid the social problems manifested by his relapse of schizophrenia, a 30-year-old man lied to the cabin crew while on board a flight from Singapore to Perth that he had a bomb in his pocket.
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Kevin Francis Hawkins was sentenced to six months’ jail on Friday after he pleaded guilty to making a false bomb threat under the United Nations Act.
A report from the Institute of Mental Health (IMH) in Singapore, which was presented to the court, showed that Hawkins experienced a relapse of schizophrenia during his holiday in Phuket, Thailand, just before the incident.
District Judge Elton Tan said that Hawkins’ schizophrenia relapse contributed to his warped understanding of the situation, which caused unfounded feelings and impaired his judgment.
Deputy Public Prosecutor (DPP) Grace Chua told the court that on October 12 this year, Hawkins and his wife were passengers on board Scoot flight TR16.
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They were travelling from Phuket to Perth via Singapore.
The flight departed from Changi Airport at 4.12pm (local time) with a total of 11 crew members and 363 passengers on board.
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