Abusive air passenger had to be handcuffed at Cork Airport

AIRPORT police in Cork had to call gardaí to deal with a passenger who had to be handcuffed because of the extent of his aggressive and drunken behaviour in the arrivals terminal.

The Lithuanian man who works as a window cleaner in London had travelled to meet a friend in Cork, but after his friend failed to show up at the airport, the visitor kept drinking from the bottle of whiskey that he brought from the airport in London.

By the time airport police and gardaí encountered Ramunas Butkevicius, aged 41, of no fixed address, half the whiskey had been consumed and he was highly intoxicated.

Judge Olann Kelleher said it was not acceptable to behave in this way, in particular in an airport where families with young children were present to witness it.

He imposed a €200 fine on him for being drunk and a danger, and a suspended two-month sentence for engaging in threatening and abusive behaviour. A charge of obstructing an authorised officer at Cork Airport under the State Airports Act was taken into consideration.

Sergeant Pat Lyons outlined the background to the incident.

“Garda Derek Murphy received a call to attend Cork Airport where a drunk male was refusing to leave the airport when requested to do so by airport police,” said Sgt Lyons.

“On arrival at the scene, the man had been handcuffed by airport police as he was aggressive towards them and was causing a scene in front of other airport users in the arrivals terminal of the airport.

“Garda Murphy introduced himself to the man at the airport. Mr Butkevicius responded: ‘Go f*** yourself’, and made sexual comments towards him.

“Mr Trevor Murphy of the airport police said he had received a similar response. The defendant was shouting these responses in earshot of other members of the public who were using the airport.

“He was arrested and brought to Togher Garda Station where he continued to use abusive language towards gardaí.”