An Irish female MMA fighter has been arrested after allegedly attacking two Spanish police officers who boarded a Ryanair flight to deal with a disturbance.
Sinead Kavanagh, 39, was detained on Monday evening after the incident on a Gran Canaria to Dublin flight as it prepared for take-off around 7.30pm, according to local media.
She spent the night in a police cell before appearing in court earlier today, Spanish outlets say.
Local media are reporting the two Civil Guard officers allegedly assaulted by Kavanagh are currently off sick because of the injuries they suffered.
Kavanagh, a featherweight fighter and friend of Conor McGregor, is said to have been released on bail pending an ongoing criminal investigation following a closed court hearing.
One local newspaper, Atlantico Hoy, published footage of the incident in the plane aisle said to have involved Kavanagh.
A woman could be heard shouting in English in the video as she grappled with two police officers struggling to control her.
One of the uniformed Civil Guard officers appeared to be a woman.
An Irish female MMA fighter has been arrested after allegedly attacking two Spanish police officers who boarded a Ryanair flight to deal with a disturbance. One local newspaper, Atlantico Hoy, published footage of the incident in the plane aisle said to have involved Kavanagh
A woman could be heard shouting in English in the video as she grappled with two police officers struggling to control her
Sinead Kavanagh, 39, is said to have been held on Monday evening and spent the night in a police cell before appearing in court earlier today
Another newspaper, Canarias 7, said the pilot requested police presence after flight crew were unable to control Kavanagh’s ‘violent attitude.’
It said: ‘When the officers arrived she resisted aggressively and hit the officers several times, leaving them with several injuries which led to them having to take time off work.’
Kavanagh was reportedly taken to an airport cell after back-up was called and four police officers got into a patrol car with her.
Spanish national media were last night beginning to pick up on the story as well as local media in Gran Canaria.
There has not yet been any official comment from the courts or Civil Guard.
Sinead Kavanagh, who hails from the Dublin suburb of Inchicore, became a five-time national boxing champion and competed alongside Katie Taylor on the Irish team that went to the World Championships in 2021.
After losing multiple fights she quit the sport and became an MMA fighter.
She was ranked 10 at Women’s Featherweight according to Fight Matrix from April 2021 to July 2021, and March 2022.
This is a breaking news story, more to follow.
