Woman jailed for air-rage incident

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This article was published 11/8/2010 (4339 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

A sky-high meltdown has cost a Newfoundland woman her temporary freedom -- and left her searching for a new air carrier.

Barbara Morton admitted Wednesday she tried to open the door of a WestJet plane, forcing it to make an emergency landing in Winnipeg last month. The 47-year-old mother of three pleaded guilty to charges of criminal mischief and not following the directions of an airline cabin crew under the federal Aeronautics Act.

She was sentenced to two months in jail, in addition to 37 days of time already spent in custody at the downtown Winnipeg Remand Centre. Morton was also placed on three years of supervised probation and barred from ever flying on WestJet again.

Morton will also have to pay the airline $6,202 in restitution, which is the estimated cost of the unscheduled stop that caused some of the 131 passengers to miss connecting flights.

"There were a large number of inconveniences imposed on all those passengers," Crown attorney John Peden said Wednesday. Morton wept throughout much of the sentencing hearing and apologized for her actions, which she claims to have no memory of.

As the Free Press first reported last month, Morton was suffering from a case of prescription drug withdrawal when she flew into a rage.

She had flown from Newfoundland to Alberta so her 13-year-old son, who suffers from Tourette's syndrome, could be placed in a special treatment centre. Morton suffers from panic attacks and was taking OxyContin, court was told.

Morton was one hour into her flight to Halifax when she got up from her seat and told a flight attendant, "I need morphine now, I'm on major withdrawal. I'm going to open that (expletive) door, I'm getting off."

Morton reached for the cabin door while threatening to jump, causing passengers to help crew members restrain the woman. She also bit a 77-year-old man and kicked a female flight attendant in the face, court was told.

Morton was eventually restrained with plastic ties until the pilot could land in Winnipeg, where police were waiting to arrest her. She has an extensive criminal record that spans more than 20 years and was on probation at the time for an assault and theft.

WestJet said passengers were never in danger during the incident.

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