By Tameika Malone From Antigua Observer

A Guadeloupe man is back at home having been convicted in Antigua for making a false report, to wit, a bomb threat.

Francois Zavier Renaud Boisneuf, 35, was on Monday ordered to pay $4,000 forthwith having pleaded guilty to one of two charges laid against him in connection with the threat he made on a LIAT flight, at the VC Bird International Airport, on August 4.

The prosecution withdrew the charge of disorderly conduct.

The Frenchman, who was en route to his homeland from Barbados’ Crop Over, used the words “bomb” and “terrorist” when repeatedly asked by a LIAT flight attendant for his boarding pass. The flight had made a stop in Antigua.

Boisneuf was removed from the flight after the remark that he had come to blow up the plane.

The threat resulted in the bomb squad being called in. Luggage had to be rechecked and the flight left the tarmac behind schedule.

Just before handing down the decision in the St John’s Magistrates’ Court, Magistrate Conliffe Clarke told the French national given his education, work and family background he should have known better than to let idle words and loose talk land him before the court.

The Guadeloupian paid the fine to avoid a six-month jail time.

The accused was represented by attorney Radford Hill.

Meanwhile, the airline’s acting CEO Julie Reifer-Jones is urging passengers to be responsible, as disruptions onboard flights or even at airlines can be viewed as threats to security.

“We advise all passengers to follow the instructions from the flight crew, and not to engage in disruptive behaviour,” Reifer-Jones said. “If a passenger is disruptive we do have procedures to remove the passenger from the flight, and that was done on this occasion. Of course, we would always co-operate with the local authorities in any investigation they are carrying out,” she added.

IMAGE: N/A

For more on this story go to: http://antiguaobserver.com/liat-passenger-fined-for-bomb-threat/