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Somalian woman stabs pilots mid-air on New Zealand flight - Times Online

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A Mayday call was received about 7.40am (1840 GMT) New Zealand time and the flight landed at 8.06am. The pilots had continued to communicate with ground control, though this was reported to have been "somewhat stilted".

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Ms Abdille was born in Sudan but grew up in Somalia. When fighting began in Mogadishu in 1991, she was separated from her family and eventually flown to New Zealand in 1994 as a refugee.

She has moved frequently since and is said to be alienated from her community and frustrated by failures to reunite with her family.

A Blenheim Muslim community spokesman, Zayad Blissett, said that Ms Abdille was not part of the community. “She has quite a history of mental instability and she has threatened to kill family here. She's an alcoholic and very unstable.”

A taxi driver says Ms Abdille had seemed "vague" when he took her to Blenheim airport. The driver, who identified himself as Colin, told New Zealand radio: “She was a wee bit vague. He described her as "away with the fairies.”

"She couldn't work out where she wanted to go for while which I thought was quite strange at that time of the morning. She was very nervous, very unsure of where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do.”

Here's an earlier Free Republic thread.

Pilots stabbed in attack on New Zealand plane
Reuters ^ | Feb 7, 2008 | Adrian Bathgate

Posted on 02/07/2008 7:43:37 PM CST by RDTF

“She has quite a history of mental instability and she has threatened to kill family here. She's an alcoholic and very unstable.”

,,, there ya go. That's the defense in place right away. The government will appoint a lawyer thru legal aid and she'll end up with a State house to live in and get income from TV interviews and appearances in NZ WOMANS WEEKLY. Before you know it she'll be alongside Bono solving the world's problems. Air New Zealand will be caned by the government for threatening public safety.