Drunk and abusive on a plane, P.E.I. man gets 30 days in jail

A Charlottetown man who boarded a plane after he'd been drinkingand 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 Weirfor uttering threats and causing a disturbance.

"This is more a case of stupidity, drunk or not," said Judge John Douglas as thesentence 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 stafffor the purpose of removing Weir and his luggagefrom the plane, Weir told a flightattendant 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 theairport 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 Anonymousmeetings 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 thatprovince.

Weir's lawyer told court Tuesday that hewantsto 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.

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