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Tinashe Rioga, 21, made a brief appearance in a Cape Town magistrate's court but did not enter a plea to the charges. "The accused tried to hijack a flight from Cape Town International Airport to Johannesburg using an injection syringe," state prosecutor Zamani Gcelushe told the court. Gcelushe did not provide a motive for the incident on Saturday, which ended when Rioga was overpowered by fellow passengers and an off-duty pilot after threatening the flight attendant and demanding to be taken to the cockpit. Botswana businessman Ian Thomson, who helped overpower the accused, said Rioga had threatened to kill the stewardess if she did not open the cockpit door. "I just figured I had to do something and I jumped him. I literally ran up and smacked him and grabbed him by the throat. We managed to apprehend him very quickly," Thomson said. Rioga had wanted the fight to be diverted to Maputo, the capital of neighbouring Mozambique, but the plane returned to Cape Town where he was arrested. He will remain in police custody pending a June 26 bail hearing. (Reuters)
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