Irish Lass Returned Home--in Custody of Two Navy Agents

Suzanne Twomey, a 16-year-old Irish girl who spent 10 days as a stowaway aboard a U.S. destroyer, flew Thursday night from New York to her native Ireland.

“I just want to go home,” Twomey, of Cork, told Wake County, N. C., District Judge Fred Morelock earlier in the day. The judge put her in custody of two Naval Investigative Service agents who were escorting her.

The county had assumed custody of the stowaway Wednesday night, when she was released from a Raleigh, N. C., hospital. She had been sent to the hospital after getting sick on the first leg of her journey home.

The girl apparently slipped aboard the guided missile destroyer Conyngham while it was on a courtesy call in Cork Harbor, Ireland. She was found aboard the vessel Saturday when it returned to its Norfolk, Va., base. Five sailors accused of helping the girl were being held in the base brig.

Meanwhile, Twomey’s parents said they are considering suing the U.S. government. “There is a lot more to this than meets the eye,” said the girl’s mother, Christine Twomey. She said U.S. officials had telephoned her in Ireland to apologize.