mr Q
21st Oct 2003, 19:30
Woman's in-flight drink 'was spiked with ecstasy'
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 21/10/2003)
Daily Telegraph.
An airline passenger tried to chat up a businesswoman he met on a flight and spiked her in-flight drink with an ecstasy tablet after she declined to accompany him to a party, a jury was told yesterday.
The 24-year-old Israeli woman, who was flying from Tel Aviv to Gatwick, drank the orange juice offered to her by her fellow traveller, Ramon Gantz, 30, and soon afterwards complained of feeling unwell.
The glass was retained by a stewardess and found to have traces of MDMA, the chemical name for ecstasy.
Gantz was arrested on arrival at Gatwick and five ecstasy tablets were found concealed under the cushions of the aircraft seats.
Walton Hornsby, prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court, East Sussex, said that after drinking the juice, the woman started to feel dizzy. Her pulse was racing and she felt extremely thirsty. She felt so unwell that she had to lie down on the galley floor.
The pilot considered making an emergency landing but continued to Gatwick where the woman was taken to hospital.
She made a full recovery, but was unable to concentrate properly on her work and felt sleepy and tearful, the court was told.
Mr Hornsby said Gantz, who was travelling with a friend, struck up a conversation with the woman as they waited to board the Monarch Airlines flight in April and continued it on the flight.
They went to the rear of the aircraft so that they could chat more easily. "Gantz asked her if she wanted to go to London with him to a party. She said she was married and was fairly non-committal," said Mr Hornsby.
As they walked back to their seats, Gantz allegedly put his hands either side of her hips. "She felt it was in a sexual way," said Mr Hornsby.
When breakfast was served Gantz's friend offered the woman a coffee. "She took a sip and noticed that it seemed to taste a bit strange. She didn't drink any more of it."
The woman fell asleep and when she awoke, Gantz said he would fetch her an orange juice. He went to the galley to collect two cans and, it is alleged, went into the lavatory, emerging with the drinks poured.
Mr Hornsby said: "She noticed that there appeared to be some bubbles or froth on the surface of the juice and also that it had a piece of something in it, a white piece similar to an artificial sweetener."
When she became ill she went to the galley. "During this period the defendant was repeatedly coming back to the galley area looking very worried and almost panicking, asking how she was," said Mr Hornsby.
He appeared "edgy" and was seen to put his hands down the side of a seat. Five ecstasy tablets were later found in the seats in front of where Gantz had been sitting.
Gantz, who lives in Israel, admitted to police that he took an ecstasy tablet before the flight, the court heard, but he denied putting one in the woman's drink.
The woman told the court she had no experience of street drugs. She became suspicious when Gantz handed her the juice. "I had it in my mind briefly that maybe he had put something in it. It seemed so crazy, but I smelled it and it looked normal."
Gantz denies causing a noxious thing to be administered or taken with intent.
The case continues.
By Stewart Payne
(Filed: 21/10/2003)
Daily Telegraph.
An airline passenger tried to chat up a businesswoman he met on a flight and spiked her in-flight drink with an ecstasy tablet after she declined to accompany him to a party, a jury was told yesterday.
The 24-year-old Israeli woman, who was flying from Tel Aviv to Gatwick, drank the orange juice offered to her by her fellow traveller, Ramon Gantz, 30, and soon afterwards complained of feeling unwell.
The glass was retained by a stewardess and found to have traces of MDMA, the chemical name for ecstasy.
Gantz was arrested on arrival at Gatwick and five ecstasy tablets were found concealed under the cushions of the aircraft seats.
Walton Hornsby, prosecuting at Lewes Crown Court, East Sussex, said that after drinking the juice, the woman started to feel dizzy. Her pulse was racing and she felt extremely thirsty. She felt so unwell that she had to lie down on the galley floor.
The pilot considered making an emergency landing but continued to Gatwick where the woman was taken to hospital.
She made a full recovery, but was unable to concentrate properly on her work and felt sleepy and tearful, the court was told.
Mr Hornsby said Gantz, who was travelling with a friend, struck up a conversation with the woman as they waited to board the Monarch Airlines flight in April and continued it on the flight.
They went to the rear of the aircraft so that they could chat more easily. "Gantz asked her if she wanted to go to London with him to a party. She said she was married and was fairly non-committal," said Mr Hornsby.
As they walked back to their seats, Gantz allegedly put his hands either side of her hips. "She felt it was in a sexual way," said Mr Hornsby.
When breakfast was served Gantz's friend offered the woman a coffee. "She took a sip and noticed that it seemed to taste a bit strange. She didn't drink any more of it."
The woman fell asleep and when she awoke, Gantz said he would fetch her an orange juice. He went to the galley to collect two cans and, it is alleged, went into the lavatory, emerging with the drinks poured.
Mr Hornsby said: "She noticed that there appeared to be some bubbles or froth on the surface of the juice and also that it had a piece of something in it, a white piece similar to an artificial sweetener."
When she became ill she went to the galley. "During this period the defendant was repeatedly coming back to the galley area looking very worried and almost panicking, asking how she was," said Mr Hornsby.
He appeared "edgy" and was seen to put his hands down the side of a seat. Five ecstasy tablets were later found in the seats in front of where Gantz had been sitting.
Gantz, who lives in Israel, admitted to police that he took an ecstasy tablet before the flight, the court heard, but he denied putting one in the woman's drink.
The woman told the court she had no experience of street drugs. She became suspicious when Gantz handed her the juice. "I had it in my mind briefly that maybe he had put something in it. It seemed so crazy, but I smelled it and it looked normal."
Gantz denies causing a noxious thing to be administered or taken with intent.
The case continues.