SASKATOON — The Crown says a witness heard a senator’s wife say she would slit her husband’s throat during a fracas on a flight from Ottawa to Saskatoon.
The peek into the prosecution’s case against Maygan Sensenberger came as her defence lawyer lobbied a judge to allow the 23-year-old contact with her 69-year-old husband, Sen. Rod Zimmer.
The Crown initially said it was loath to agree to any changes to the woman’s release conditions based on the “slit your throat” threat it says was overheard by another passenger and directed at Zimmer. There was no further detail presented.
Prosecutor Matt Miazga said he doesn’t care how high-profile the couple or the incident is — other people on the plane were frightened by Sensenberger’s behaviour and there are a large number of potential witnesses to what went on.
“One never knows how serious these threats are,” Miazga told court Wednesday.
Defence lawyer Leslie Sullivan argued Zimmer, who has attended his wife’s court hearings and sat behind her Wednesday, didn’t ask for charges against his wife to be laid.
“He does not feel he was threatened,” Sullivan said. “They are very close ... and this is a very difficult time for them.”
“It’s been very difficult for both of them not to be together.”
In the end, Judge Albert Lavoie agreed to allow the couple to talk over the phone and Internet, including Skype, but is not letting them communicate in person.
The case has been adjourned until Sept. 18 when it is expected Sensenberger will enter a plea.
Neither Sensenberger nor Zimmer talked to reporters outside court.
The couple had been ordered to stay apart after Sensenberger was arrested last Thursday when the Air Canada flight landed in Saskatoon.
One witness has said Zimmer, a Liberal senator from Manitoba appointed in 2005, started having tightness in his chest on the flight and Sensenberger became upset.
When Zimmer started feeling better after taking some oxygen, the couple started to fight over how serious Zimmer was taking his health, said witness Scott Wright.
Wright said the ordeal was at times profane, but not threatening.
Police, however, allege Sensenberger yelled about bringing down the plane and threatened Zimmer.
Police say the disagreement between the couple started before concerns about Zimmer’s health were raised.
She is charged with uttering threats and causing a disturbance.
A more serious charge of endangering the safety of an aircraft was withdrawn Tuesday.
The case has exploded on the Internet and in the media — with the couple’s large age difference and a rich Facebook dossier on their relationship fuelling an appetite for the story.
They marked their first wedding anniversary on Monday, but the court order kept them apart.
The case is being handled in a specific court set aside to hear domestic violence cases. Miazga said no contact orders are common in domestic violence court.
“That’s the policy that is recommended to police departments and to our fellow Crown prosecutors as to how these matters are handled when they come before the court,” Miazga told reporters outside the courthouse.