Charlottetown man sentenced to 5 years for taking hostage during attempted jailbreak

Nicola MacLeod · CBC News

· Posted: Apr 16, 2025 2:55 PM EDT | Last Updated: 7 minutes ago

A Charlottetown antheral volition walk astir 5 years successful a national situation aft helium attempted to interruption retired of the Provincial Correctional Centre by holding a shard of solid to a worker's pharynx and taking her hostage. 

Johnathan Joseph Trainor, 29, pleaded blameworthy to 8 charges successful January and was sentenced past Friday week.

All of the charges against him stemmed from incidents successful the summertime of 2024. 

Trainor missed a tribunal day successful June, past fled from constabulary erstwhile they tried to apprehension him successful July. He was yet caught and taken to the provincial jailhouse connected Sleepy Hollow Road.

The adjacent day, Aug. 1, Trainor smashed a window successful his compartment and utilized a piece of solid to instrumentality an acquisition idiosyncratic hostage successful the jail's library, threatening to slit her pharynx if she did not spell with him and unlock the door. The jailhouse was locked down during the incident.

Judge Nancy Orr sentenced Trainor to 5 years successful a national penitentiary connected the hostage charge. He besides got 15 days for failing to look successful tribunal past June and 45 days for resisting apprehension successful July, for a full of 5 years and 60 days. 

He received 45 days for escaping custody, 4 months for uttering threats, six months for battle with a weapon, 2 months for damaging the model astatine the jailhouse and six months for attempting to escape. 

Those sentences are concurrent, meaning they look connected his criminal record, but helium tin service the full of 18 months and 45 days astatine the aforesaid clip arsenic the other, much important sentence. He besides received immoderate recognition for the clip he's already served successful custody. 

Trainor has to supply a DNA illustration to a nationalist database and volition beryllium banned from owning weapons for 10 years aft his release. He also  is barred from contacting the jailhouse worker he took hostage.

Lawyer fired, rehired

Trainor was represented by a ineligible assistance lawyer erstwhile helium entered his blameworthy pleas successful January. 

But astatine his archetypal sentencing proceeding past month, Trainor fired his lawyer, telling the tribunal helium got atrocious proposal and didn't recognize what helium was admitting to erstwhile helium pleaded guilty. 

Trainor told the justice helium was withdrawing from opioids astatine the clip of the jailbreak, and did not judge helium was successful his mean headspace.

He past asked to alteration his blameworthy pleas to not guilty, and was fixed clip to marque his lawsuit earlier the judge, who explained the barroom for withdrawing a plea was precise high.

Orr yet declined the request, and the 8 blameworthy pleas remained. The justice acknowledged that his cause withdrawal was submitted arsenic a origin successful his sentencing.

Last Friday, Trainor was again represented by the ineligible assistance lawyer helium had dismissed earlier successful the year.