Australian model Adau Mornyang escapes jail time in the US after flight rage incident
A model who turned a Melbourne-LA flight into a “nightmare” when she went on a drug-fuelled rampage made an emotional apology when her expletive-laden rant was played in court.
An Australian model who turned a flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles into a “nightmare” during a violent, drug and drink fuelled rampage has escaped jail time.
Adau Mornyang, 25, who has worked for luxury brands including Alexander Wang and was a Miss Australia finalist, had faced a possible 21 years in an American jail after attacking an attendant and air marshal during the January flight.
However, Los Angeles judge Cormac Carney took into account traumatic events from Ms Mornyang’s life, her remorse and time served as he sentenced her to 100 hours community service, rather than a custodial term sought by prosecutors.
It followed an emotional apology from Ms Mornyang to the court, as she talked about her “embarrassment and humiliation” after hearing an audio recording of her meltdown, where she hurled racial abuse at passengers and flight attendants trying to calm her down.
In the recording, Ms Mornyang can be heard saying: “Do you think I wanna tolerate your b***s**t.
“Don’t you. Oh. You are disturbing everybody else.
“You need to shut the f*** up and tolerate whatever f***ing bull***t you are getting.”
She then tells the person at the other end of her rant they were a “dumb b***h.
“Right now I am disturbing everybody else because of f***ing you, f***ing white trash b***h,” she says.
Ms Mornyang said she regretted her tirade.
“Not one person on that flight deserved to hear those words being said,” she said.
“If I could apologise to all 205 passengers that day and take back my acts on the flight in question I would do that in a heartbeat.
“I’m a human being who made a terrible mistake due to my choices and my alcoholism,” she said, adding that she had been sober six months and was benefiting from mental health treatment.
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Judge Carney said that although Ms Mornyang had made the flight a “nightmare” for several hours, she suffered sufficient punishment and didn’t deserve to spend any more time in jail than the three days in custody after her arrest.
The court heard she was receiving counselling for trauma she suffered including a sexual assault, fleeing a civil war and losing family members.
“I want you to have a very happy life. Stay out of trouble and move forward. You really don’t have a choice, move forward. Don’t be shackled by what’s happened,” he said.
“Hopefully I will never see you again.”
Ms Mornyang was placed on three years probation during which she will be drug-tested and receive counselling. She is also not allowed to consume alcohol.
New York-based Mornyang slapped a steward in the face and kicked the air marshal in the chest after she was refused alcohol service aboard United Flight 99 on January 21.
A US air marshall had described the January encounter as “the most severe he has encountered in his 10 years” on the job.
She had been found guilty after a trial in Los Angeles federal court of assault and interference with a flight attendant, but acquitted of assaulting the marshal.
Ms Mornyang did not comment to media after her sentence. In March, she told News Corp Australia she had not attacked anyone and that her behaviour was driven by accidentally mixing prescription drugs with alcohol to sleep during the flight.
“Even though passengers on that flight and other flight attendants said there was never a slap, the evidence was ignored and they decided to believe (the flight attendant),” she said in a text message.
“All I remember was waking up after sleeping for eight hours.”
The court heard other passengers complained when Mornyang started “yelling obscenities and racial slurs and flailing her arms” about nine hours into the flight.
Attendants said they cut her off after serving her five or six glasses of wine and spotting an empty bottle near where she was sitting in the middle of the plane. Ms Mornyang disputed this and said she drank two glasses of wine and took prescription drugs before going to sleep.
The court heard attendants tried to move her to the back and Ms Mornyang fought back, at one point stripping off her clothes.
“I was so confused and begging and pleading for them to tell me what I did. I was ignored, I was in and out of consciousness, and was later locked up in federal prison still with no memory of what I was arrested for,” Ms Mornyang said.
“This whole alleged slapping is a big shock to me and I cry every night wondering why I have no memory of it. How I could have done it while [I was] asleep.”
The Sudanese-born model has enjoyed significant modelling success since moving to Australia as a refugee at the age of 10, including serving as a global campaign face for Sephora in 2016, a Miss World Victorian finalist in 2017 and Miss World Australia finalist and recently walked the runway at New York Fashion Week.
She said in March she believed the incident had ruined her career.
“I boarded that flight on January 21st for what I thought was a life-changing opportunity,” she told News Corp Australia.
“I had just been offered a modelling contract for three years and I was so excited. I couldn’t believe that it was finally happening.
“Just to wake up and be thrown into prison. I’ve never laid my hands on another human being. I don’t believe violence as someone who’s always been on the receiving end of it. I would rather hurt myself than another human being.
“This was a now or never modelling opportunity and I would not have done anything to ruin it.”
Court papers stated Ms Mornyang repeatedly fought back against airline staff and marshals who tried to calm her down.
“Approximately one hour after Mornyang drank her last glass of wine and approximately nine hours after takeoff, two passengers approached … the rear galley to report that a passenger was acting out in her seat,” the papers said.
“The passenger was talking to herself, screaming profanities, and waving her arms around in her seat.”
The attendant “asked Mornyang if there was anything he could help with and explained that she needed to quiet down because other passengers were “complaining about her yelling”.
“Mornyang said that she did not care and that she is a strong black woman,” the affidavit said.
She then accused the attendant of being racist “because he was not talking [like that] to any of the white passengers”.
Originally published as Australian model Adau Mornyang escapes jail time in the US after flight rage incident