QUEBEC -- Marina Paquet, a 25 year-old Quebec city resident, pleaded not guilty Friday to charges of extortion, forcible detention and the illegal use of a firearm.
Paquet, represented by defense lawyer Andre Cartier, opted for trial by judge and jury.
No trial date had yet been set but Sessions Court Judge Anatole Corriveau said the woman's bail hearing would continue Tuesday, May 12.
Contacted Friday at the Helicoptere Trans-Quebec Ltd. firm in Ste. Foy, Que., helicopter pilot Bryan Jenner said a woman rented a helicopter for an hour Thursday saying she wanted to take aerial photos of the Orsainville Zoo near Quebec City.
But once in the air, he said the woman took his headset, brandished a sawed-off 12-gauge shotgun and ordered him to land at the Orsainville jail.
'She said she wanted to free her husband from jail,' Brenner said Friday. 'But I told her I wouldn't land there because there were armed guards at the jail, and there could be shooting.'
Jenner, 33, who said that neither he nor the woman were very nervous, said he told the womanthat if she shot him, the helicopter would crash.
'She had a lot of guts; she was fairly cool,' he said.
The woman finally turned over her gun to Jenner. The pilot then landed, and the woman attempted to escape on foot. She was arrested a few minutes later.
'I've been flying helicopters for the last seven years, and this is the first time such a thing has happened to me,' Jenner said. 'But once in the air, I had a weapon just as fatal as a shotgun, and that was my confidence as a pilot.'RAF'
