Lauren had taken cocktail of drink and medicines
At Ennis District Court, Judge Patrick Durcan declined the option of imposing a maximum four-month jail sentence on Jenny Lauren for two offences.
The case was first heard on Tuesday at Killaloe District Court, which was held in the Brian Boru pub, but the judge said it was not appropriate for it to be dealt with in Killaloe.
Yesterday, Judge Durcan ordered Lauren to pay a €2,000 fine after hearing that, on a cocktail of alcohol and prescribed medicines, she launched a tirade of abuse against cabin crew staff on the Delta Airlines flight and pushed one member of staff against a wall.
He said the events were “extremely serious and extremely frightening for crew and passengers on board”.
He said her refusal to accept the directions of staff “reflects very badly on her” and the “very personalised insults directed at the air hostesses were nothing short of reprehensible”.
He said the situation placed the other 208 people onboard “in a very frightening situation where aircrew staff were grossly insulted”.
Lauren pleaded guilty to causing breach of the peace onboard the Barcelona-New York flight, and being intoxicated on the flight on Jan 6. A third related charge was withdrawn by the State.
The flight was diverted to Shannon on Monday.
After a night in the cells at Shannon Garda Station on Monday, Lauren was brought before a makeshift court in the Brian Boru pub in Ballina where she secured bail to yesterday’s sitting.
Outlining the case, Insp Tom Kennedy said Lauren “was certainly loud, foul-mouthed, abusive, and threatening, and there was no reasoning with her on the aircraft”.
Insp Kennedy informed the court that the cost of the diversion to Delta totalled over $43,000 (€32,000).
He said the arresting garda in Shannon smelled alcohol from Lauren, even though little or no drink had been served to her on the flight.
He said Lauren had quite a deal of medication with her when arrested and was seen by a doctor at Shannon Garda Station.
Lauren had no previous convictions, he added.
Sharon Curley, for Lauren, said the defendant “is a 41-year-old single woman from New York with an unblemished record. She is a graduate of the University of Columbia where she achieved a degree in fine arts where she subsequently went on to set her own small business in jewellery design.”
Ms Curley said Lauren was travelling back to the US from a short holiday with a friend when the incident occurred. She had mixed three drinks with prescription medicine.
“That is not an excuse, but it may go some way to explain the unprecedented behaviour by Ms Lauren. My client has a difficult medical past.”
Ms Curley said Lauren suffers from depression, has overcome anorexia, is under the care of a consultant psychiatrist, and suffers from bipolar disorder and generalised anxiety disorder.
“Ms Lauren’s battle with anorexia has been very well documented through a book she wrote detailing her battle. She has also wontwo awards from two national eating disorder organisations in the US... These achievements made her behaviour all the more bizarre, out of character, and most unfortunate. She lost her mum several years ago which she found extremely tough and she has indicated to me that she was upset over the Christmas period as it is a family time thinking about her mum.”
Lauren was adamant at the outset that she apologise to everyone involved, she said.
“Ms Lauren has advised me that she doesn’t have large sums of money available to her at this present point of time. She does feel very responsible and very remorseful and she is aware that the element of compensation is something she may have to face, possibly in another forum.”
Ms Curley read out parts of a testimonial letter from Lauren’s father, and Ralph’s brother, Jerry into court.
It read: “Jenny is a very kind and caring person and a loving daughter. We learned at an early stage of her life about her eating disorder which impacted Jenny and our entire family.”
Referring to the incident, Mr Lauren said: “I know that this will not be repeated. This is not the Jenny that everyone knows and cares for.”
Judge Durcan accepted Lauren has impeccable character and what occurred was out of character. He said she has shown “tremendous bravery when dealing with personal problems and who has given a great deal to the world in an artistic sense and through leadership by helping others who suffer similar problems”.
He said he would convict and fine Lauren €2,000 in relation to the intoxication charge and took the charge of breach of the peace into account.
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