A 58-year-old American man was granted bail in a Brampton court but has not been released after U.S. Customs and Border Protections discovered an inert “mock improvised explosive device” while conducting an inspection on a suitcase at Pearson International Airport.
The court appearance comes one day after the discovery was made.
The Chicago-bound United Airlines flight 547 was scheduled to take off at 7 a.m. on Thursday but was halted by U.S. officials who said they were investigating a possible security breach aboard.
Passengers on board the flight were held on the tarmac for several hours before being escorted off the plane.
Officials said the device that was found was tested for explosives and determined to be negative. After “no threat” was declared to the aircraft, all operations returned to normal at Pearson.
Suspect held for bail
The accused, Joseph Galaska, was held for a bail hearing. He sat in a prisoner’s box wearing a black leather jacket and cargo pants on Friday.
He has been granted release, but not until his son comes to Brampton on the weekend and posts his $5,000 bail.
Galaska is facing one count of mischief in relation to the incident.
He is scheduled to appear in a Brampton court on Apr. 10.
Lawyer says jail time possible for accused
Criminal defence lawyer Kim Schofield says a mischief charge shouldn’t be taken lightly.
“The maximum penalty if the Crown proceeds by indictment is five years. So it’s considered quite a serious offence,” Schofield told CTV News Toronto on Friday.
“I think the context here is that it’s an airport, it’s post-9/11 and it’s something that – as I understand -- shut down a portion of the airport. Certainly people were inconvenienced for many, many hours with flights thereafter. It just caused a huge after effect.”
Schofield says the charge is different from a robbery or an assault because it can be implemented in a range of situations.
“The Crown is going to have to prove the act – that he’s the one who put the fake bomb in the suitcase – and they’re going to have to prove his intention to mislead. That’s where it gets a little tricky, though. What if he has another intention?” she said.
She says that due to the widespread effect the incident had on others, the Crown could potentially “send a message” with the case.
Passengers were left on the plane for several hours before being escorted off. From there, they were able to reunite with their luggage before being re-searched and re-screened at an “isolation area.”
They were led back to the main building with their belongings where they proceeded to clear Canadian customs and had to go through U.S. customs again.
“There are certain sentencing principles, one of them is ‘specific deterrence to deter the individual.’ The other is ‘general deterrence or denunciation,’ which is to send a message to the public that this is not acceptable and if this kind of action happens, you will go to jail,” she said.
“That’s the kind of message that may be sent here.”
