Bomb threat sentencing over 'ruckus'

File photo / NZ Herald

When an Auckland midwife turned up to the airport 19 minutes before her flight and was told she could not check in she said: "I'm going to cause a ruckus".

The ensuing ruckus brought her before Manukau District Court today after she admitted a charge of making a bomb threat.

Midwife Christine Hawea - who has been suspended from the profession since 2011 - was sentenced to 100 hours community work.

On May 1, the 57-year-old arrived at Auckland Domestic Airport for a flight to Napier but was told she was too late.

"You became aggressive to staff and demanded you be let on the flight," Judge Jonathan Moses said.

Airline staff tried to pacify Hawea but this only served to enrage her more.

She briefly walked off with her luggage, leaving it in another part of the airport before returning and threatening staff.

"I got a bomb, do you want to look for it?" Hawea said.

When pressed, she followed it up by saying: "I've got a bomb in my bag. I'm a terrorist".

Security staff immediately whisked her into an interview room.

Meanwhile, a bomb disposal team complete with sniffer dogs checked her bags.

The flight to Napier, with 43 passengers on board, was turned around and delayed more than two and half hours as a thorough check was completed to ensure there were no explosives.

Six other flights were delayed as a result of runway closures for 36 minutes.

Hawea's lawyer today applied for a discharge without conviction, saying a black mark on her record could ruin the chances of her working as a midwife again.

But Judge Moses was unimpressed that an affidavit provided by the defendant failed to tell him she had been suspended for the last three years after a competency review.

"I'm astounded there was no reference," he said.

The court also heard how she owed $14,000 in costs after being on the wrong end of a New Zealand Health Practitioners Disciplinary Tribunal decision.

The judge also rejected the notion Hawea would not have known the consequences of her actions at the airport.

"When one looks at the nature of the comments made, I'd consider it completely foreseeable that airport security would take such comments in the most serious manner that they could. There's simply far too great a risk for them to do otherwise," he said.

Judge Moses said he found it difficult to locate a more serious case of its type.

He gave Hawea credit for work she had done on a variety of community organisations but it was not enough to save her from conviction.