Baggy-trousered teen fined for cheeky flash

Teenage boys, take note. If you must wear your pants low, at least make sure you are wearing underpants.

It is a lesson Trent Joseph Wroe, an Australian teenager has learned the hard way after a night out in Mooloolaba on February 28.

The 19-year-old faced Maroochydore Magistrates Court yesterday on a charge of public nuisance, after his pants fell down and exposed his bare bottom as he walked along the Esplanade just after midnight.

The case even managed to get a chuckle out of magistrate Tom Killeen, who advised Mr Wroe to wear a belt in future.

“I wore a belt today,” Mr Wroe said in court as he indicated to his shorts.

The incident occurred when a female police officer was walking past Mr Wroe when his pants fell down. She arrested him for public nuisance.

Police prosecutor Rick Pallister said it appeared Mr Wroe had exposed his buttocks in a “deliberate manner”.

Senior Constable Pallister said Mr Wroe exposed his bottom moments after he had spat in the direction of police.

Mr Wroe pleaded guilty to the charge, but said outside court it had all been a misunderstanding. He said he spat because he was sick and had not intended to aim his phlegm at the police.

As for the matter of the loose pants, he said he had simply borrowed jeans from a larger friend and they did not fit properly.

“I didn’t have any jeans and my mate’s a big bloke, so I chucked on some of his and they sat sweet,” Mr Wroe said.

“They just fell down in the wrong place at the wrong time.”

Mr Wroe said he was delighted to get a laugh from Mr Killeen.

“I’m happy I had a good effect on someone; that’s always good if you can get a laugh out of a serious person,” he said.

Mr Wroe said the next time he went out, he would make sure he wore a belt and underpants. He also made a request to the court for the name of the female police officer he had spat near, so he could issue her a formal apology.

Mr Wroe was fined $250 (Austrialian funds, about $160). He asked if the punishment could be converted to community service so he could “give something back”.

Drunken incident on plane will cost passenger $30,000

$20,000 in restitution costs added to $10,000 fine

A Russian citizen whose drunken behaviour forced a transatlantic flight to make an emergency landing in central Newfoundland last week was ordered Friday to make amends.

39-yr old Sergey Kotsur was fined $10,000 in provincial court in Gander.

As well, he has been ordered to pay $20,000 to Delta Airlines, which made an emergency landing on Sunday when Kotsur became belligerent with other passengers and airline staff.

Kotsur plead guilty to assaulting a member of the crew and to interfering with a flight crew. The Crown dropped a charge of mischief that was laid earlier this week.

Witnesses to the incident said it took eight people, including both crew and passengers, to restrain Kotsur.

Police said Kotsur remained difficult when he was taken into custody and tried to beat the window out of a police car.

The flight had originated in Moscow and was heading to Atlanta.

Travelling to Miami for vacation

Court was told that Mr. Kotsur, who owns restaurants in Russia, had been drinking before he boarded the flight from Moscow to Atlanta, and that he continued to drink liquor that someone had brought on board. Kotsur and his family had been heading to Miami for a vacation at an upscale hotel.

Court was told that he started arguing with his family, and had been banging his head against the wall of the cabin.

A disclosure statement presented to the court said that Kotsur grabbed a flight attendant's thigh under her skirt.

Defence lawyer Juan O'Quinn said a combination of alcohol and medications led to the outburst, and that his client is sorry and embarrassed about his behaviour.

"Mr. Kotsur had been drinking on the plane and that there was some medication taken, some sleeping medication, I suspect, that had a reaction. It's not some kind of activity he would normally engage in," O'Quinn said.

"He's a fairly mild fellow but the concoction of the medicine he took and the alcohol, I suspect, probably had an impact on the way he behaved."

Kotsur has one year to pay the fine and the restitution.

Before Kotsur left the courtroom, Judge Bruce Short wished him a more uneventful flight.

The Delta Airlines flight was delayed through its unplanned, four-hour stopover in Gander on Sunday.

What I don't understand is, why do people feel they need to drink on the plane? The longest flight is what? A day at most? Do you really need to drink everyday? If you do, you "may" have a drinking problem.

Are there any of my readers that take flights, even occasionally, that also order drinks while flying that would like to perhaps enlighten me?