Australian model sentenced for airline flight disturbance

An Australian model was sentenced Monday in Los Angeles to community service and probation for slapping a flight attendant and going on an obscene tirade during a flight, with a federal judge saying he believed she was deeply remorseful and did not deserve fines or prison time.

U.S. District Judge Cormac J. Carney sentenced Adau Mornyang to three years of probation and 100 hours of community service.

Prosecutors had sought a month in jail for Mornyang. But Carney said he believed she was truly sorry after she tearfully read a statement in court saying she is now receiving treatment for anxiety and depression brought on by childhood trauma, instead of self-medicating like she did at the time of the flight.

Australian-South Sudanese model Adau Mornyang arrives at Federal Court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 15, 2019. The model and former Miss World Australia finalist, Mornyang is set for sentencing in federal court for attacking a flight attendant and yelling a racial slur at an air marshal during a Melbourne to Los Angeles flight. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

"I've learned to deal with my emotions and trauma in a proper way," Mornyang said as she stood crying with her arm around her lawyer, her usually long hair cropped to a short flattop.

The incident, she said, has "pushed me to have proper medical treatment."

She talked about the humiliation of hearing the recording of herself during the trial.

Australian-South Sudanese model Adau Mornyang arrives at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 15, 2019. The model and former Miss World Australia finalist Mornyang is set for sentencing in federal court for attacking a flight attendant and yelling a racial slur at an air marshal during a Melbourne to Los Angeles flight. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

"I'll do what it takes to prove to the world that I am not that woman," Mornyang said, and asked the court for "forgiveness, kindness and mercy."

The 25-year-old, a native of South Sudan who migrated to Australia as a refugee at age 10, was convicted of felony interference with a flight crew and misdemeanor assault. She was acquitted of a third count of assaulting an air marshal.

Mornyang was nine hours into a Jan. 21 flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles and had apparently been drinking wine excessively when she began "yelling obscenities and racial slurs and flailing her arms," prosecutors said in their sentencing memorandum.

Australian-South Sudanese model Adau Mornyang arrives at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 15, 2019. The model and former Miss World Australia finalist, Mornyang is set for sentencing in federal court for attacking a flight attendant and yelling a racial slur at an air marshal during a Melbourne to Los Angeles flight. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

Her fellow passengers complained to the crew. But she only lashed out more when flight attendants attempted to calm her, and she slapped one of them. Several air marshals had to come out from undercover to help deal with her, prosecutors said.

Prosecutors said in court Monday that Mornyang's statement of remorse said little about the passengers and crew whose flight she made so difficult.

But Carney welcomed the statement, and he said before sentencing that "I do believe she's remorseful and that she's committed to getting treatment to make sure this never happens again."

Australian-South Sudanese model Adau Mornyang arrives at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 15, 2019. The model and former Miss World Australia finalist Mornyang is set for sentencing in federal court for attacking a flight attendant and yelling a racial slur at an air marshal during a Melbourne to Los Angeles flight. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

Carney said he had often sentenced terrorists, murderers and drug dealers, and that "those people need to be in custody," but not people like Mornyang.

"The trial process was punishment in and of itself," Carney said.

He added that her financial circumstances made the fine that would usually come with this crime untenable.

Australian-South Sudanese model Adau Mornyang arrives at the Federal Courthouse in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 15, 2019. The model and former Miss World Australia finalist Mornyang is set for sentencing in federal court for attacking a flight attendant and yelling a racial slur at an air marshal during a Melbourne to Los Angeles flight. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

Mornyang is also required to submit to drug tests and receive mental health counseling throughout her three-year term.

She appeared relieved as the hearing ended. She did not talk to reporters outside court.

"I want you to have a wonderful life," the judge said after handing down his sentence. "I hope I never see you again."

Australian-South Sudanese model Adau Mornyang arrives at Federal Court in downtown Los Angeles on Monday, July 15, 2019. The model and former Miss World Australia finalist Mornyang is set for sentencing in federal court for attacking a flight attendant and yelling a racial slur at an air marshal during a Melbourne to Los Angeles flight. (AP PhotoRichard Vogel)

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KYIV, Ukraine (AP) — A Ukrainian court on Friday ordered the detention of the country’s farm minister in the latest high-profile corruption investigation, while Kyiv security officials assessed how they can recover lost battlefield momentum in the war against Russia.

Ukraine’s High Anti-Corruption Court ruled that Agriculture Minister Oleksandr Solskyi should be held in custody for 60 days, but he was released after paying bail of 75 million hryvnias ($1.77 million), a statement said.

Ukraine’s National Anti-Corruption Bureau suspects Solskyi headed an organized crime group that between 2017 and 2021 unlawfully obtained land worth 291 million hryvnias ($6.85 million) and attempted to obtain other land worth 190 million hryvnias ($4.47 million).

Ukraine is trying to root out corruption that has long dogged the country. A dragnet over the past two years has seen Ukraine’s defense minister, top prosecutor, intelligence chief and other senior officials lose their jobs.

That has caused embarrassment and unease as Ukraine receives tens of billions of dollars in foreign aid to help fight Russia’s army, and the European Union and NATO have demanded widespread anti-graft measures before Kyiv can realize its ambition of joining the blocs.

In Ukraine's capital, doctors and ambulance crews evacuated patients from a children’s hospital on Friday after a video circulated online saying Russia planned to attack it.

Parents hefting bags of clothes, toys and food carried toddlers and led young children from the Kyiv City Children’s Hospital No. 1 on the outskirts of the city. Medics helped them into a fleet of waiting ambulances to be transported to other facilities.

In the video, a security official from Russian ally Belarus alleged that military personnel were based in the hospital. Kyiv city authorities said that the claim was “a lie and provocation.”

Kyiv Mayor Vitali Klitschko said that civic authorities were awaiting an assessment from security services before deciding when it was safe to reopen the hospital.

“We cannot risk the lives of our children,” he said.

Meanwhile, Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy was due to hold online talks Friday with the Ukraine Defense Contact Group, which has been the key international organization coordinating the delivery of weapons and other aid to Ukraine.

Zelenskyy said late Thursday that the meeting would discuss how to turn around Ukraine’s fortunes on the battlefield. The Kremlin’s forces have gained an edge over Kyiv’s army in recent months as Ukraine grappled with a shortage of ammunition and troops.

Russia, despite sustaining high losses, has been taking control of small settlements as part of its effort to drive deeper into eastern Ukraine after capturing the city of Avdiivka in February, the U.K. defense ministry said Friday.

It’s been slow going for the Kremlin’s troops in eastern Ukraine and is likely to stay that way, according to the Institute for the Study of War. However, the key hilltop town of Chasiv Yar is vulnerable to the Russian onslaught, which is using glide bombs — powerful Soviet-era weapons that were originally unguided but have been retrofitted with a navigational targeting system — that obliterate targets.

“Russian forces do pose a credible threat of seizing Chasiv Yar, although they may not be able to do so rapidly,” the Washington-based think tank said late Thursday.

It added that Russian commanders are likely seeking to advance as much as possible before the arrival in the coming weeks and months of new U.S. military aid, which was held up for six months by political differences in Congress.

While that U.S. help wasn’t forthcoming, Ukraine’s European partners didn’t pick up the slack, according to German’s Kiel Institute for the World Economy, which tracks Ukraine support.

“The European aid in recent months is nowhere near enough to fill the gap left by the lack of U.S. assistance, particularly in the area of ammunition and artillery shells,” it said in a report Thursday.

Ukraine is making a broad effort to take back the initiative in the war after more than two years of fighting. It plans to manufacture more of its own weapons in the future, and is clamping down on young people avoiding conscription, though it will take time to process and train any new recruits.

Jill Lawless contributed to this report.

Follow AP’s coverage of the war in Ukraine at https://apnews.com/hub/russia-ukraine

Ukrainian young acting student Gleb Batonskiy plays piano in a public park in Kyiv, Ukraine, Thursday, April 25, 2024. (AP Photo/Francisco Seco)