Drunk and abusive on a plane, P.E.I. man gets 30 days in jail
Man told flight attendant his carry-on was 'the one with the bomb in it'
A Charlottetown man who boarded a plane after he'd been drinking and made a remark about a bomb in his luggage, has been sentenced to 30 days in jail.
Joseph Robert Weir, 37, was removed from a plane at the Winnipeg airport in November 2017.
In Charlottetown Provincial Court on Tuesday, a judge sentenced Weir for uttering threats and causing a disturbance.
"This is more a case of stupidity, drunk or not," said Judge John Douglas as the sentence was handed down. Weir had pleaded guilty to the charges.
Threatened to punch flight attendant
Court heard that Weir had been drinking before boarding the flight. On the plane, which had not yet taken off, he became "abusive," according to Crown prosecutor Lisa Goulden, and threatened to punch a flight attendant.
When approached by flight staff for the purpose of removing Weir and his luggage from the plane, Weir told a flight attendant his carry-on bag was "the one with the bomb in it."
RCMP were alerted and Weir was arrested. He continued to shout and swear at people inside the airport terminal, according to Goulden.
Defence lawyer Alex Dalton told court her client had been working in northern Manitoba at the time of the incident and had had too much to drink during a week's leave from his job. She said he's now attending Alcoholics Anonymous meetings and receiving treatment for alcoholism.
The judge said Weir should have known better.
Skipped trial in Manitoba
"Everybody knows about their heightened security around air travel these days," said Douglas.
Weir's case had originally been slated for trial in Manitoba. The trial never took place after Weir failed to attend court and left that province.
Weir's lawyer told court Tuesday that he wants to go back out west to work when he gets out of jail on P.E.I.
A court order that had prevented Weir from flying has now been lifted.