Cockpit Intruder Won’t Be Prosecuted

The attorney general of Kenya has decided not to prosecute a mentally ill college student who nearly crashed a jumbo jet carrying 398 people in December, saying guilty intent could not be proved because Paul Mukoni, 27, was suffering from a mental illness when he burst into the cockpit and struggled with crew members.

Doctors say Mukoni, a Kenyan, is suffering from acute paranoia. He forced his way into the cockpit of the British Airways Boeing 747-400 as it was en route to Nairobi from London on Dec. 29. The plane plummeted a reported 19,000 feet before Mukoni was restrained and the pilots were able to right the craft.