Australian model lands herself in hot water again
A Sudanese-Australian model who narrowly avoided jail time in the US after a drunken rampage on a flight, has been arrested again and this time - has been sitting in an immigration detention center since September.
Adau Mornyang, 25, reportedly attacked a male flight attendant, called his colleague a “white trash b” and hit an air host when she was cut off from drinking on a United Airlines flight from Melbourne to Los Angeles in January.
The model faced 21 years in jail after being found guilty of assault in March, but narrowly escaped with 100 hours of community service and three years probation.
However it has been revealed Mornyang had been arrested on September 17 by US immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in a surprise ambush.
“Adau was shocked, since she knew she never entered the United States illegally nor overstayed her visa,” her sister Maria wrote on a GoFundMe page to raise funds to cover her legal costs.
Maria said her sister entered the US with a valid 01 visa that expires on December 26, 2021.
“She's not in the country illegally,” she wrote.
A Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade spokesperson confirmed the department is assisting an Australian being held in US detention.
“The Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade is providing consular assistance to an Australian detained in the US. Owing to our privacy obligations we will not provide further comment,” a spokesman told Daily Mail Australia.
The GoFundMe page claims ICE agents revoked Mornyang's visa without telling her as pay back for her avoiding a prison sentence.
“This no-jail outcome must've infuriated ICE officials who proceeded (without Adau's knowledge) to revoke her valid visa and subsequently arrested her for being in the country illegally,” Maria wrote. '
“Meanwhile, a judge never ordered that Adau should leave the country. My sister has been in jail for over two months, she's not been given any trial since arrest by ICE nor found guilty of overstaying her visa, just kept in jail indefinitely.
“Adau expected that she was going to be deported after her arrest on September 17, 2019 - that didn't happen either.”
The 25-year-old, who was born in South Sudan before moving to Australia as a refugee when she was 10, was convicted of felony interference with a flight crew and misdemeanour assault.
She was acquitted of a third count of assaulting an air marshal.
In March a jury heard Mornyang ordered “several glasses of wine” on the January 21 United Airlines flight.
Passengers complained to staff about Mornyang's behaviour around nine hours into the flight.
“When the flight attendant approached to assess the situation, Mornyang began to shout at the flight attendant and then slapped him across his face,” the court heard.
After she was reportedly cut off from drinking more, she yelled obscenities, struck a flight attendant, had to be handcuffed by an air marshal, refused to leave a toilet and had to be held at the rear of the plane.
The flight attendant said he was so shocked after he was assaulted he “could not physically do anything except sit for nearly half an hour to process what had happened to him”.
Prosecutors said air marshals had to come out from undercover to help deal with her.
The former Miss Australia finalist claimed to have no recollection of the commotion.
“All I remember was waking up after sleeping for eight hours,” she said in a text message after the incident occurred.
The models claims to have mixed two glasses of wine with prescription pills to help her sleep, but flight attendants say it was closer to five or six glasses before she had to be cut off.
Mornyang said she “was so confused and begging and pleading for them to tell me what I did.
“I was ignored, I was in and out of consciousness, and was later locked up in federal prison still with no memory of what I was arrested for.
“This whole alleged slapping is a big shock to me and I cry every night wondering why I have no memory of it. How I could of done it while asleep,” she said.
In March, a Los Angeles jury found Mornyang guilty of a felony charge of interference with a flight crew member and a misdemeanour count of assault.
Mornyang was required throughout her three-year probation to submit to drug tests and receive counselling for mental health issues.
The model was previously a global campaign face for makeup giant Sephora and was a Miss World Victoria top eight state finalist in 2017.
Mornyang arrived as a refugee to Australia when she was just ten and used her promising modelling career as a platform to become an outspoken advocate on social issues, particularly any plaguing South Sudanese communities.