A Nova Scotian playwright who was arrested after allegedly threatening to hold an internet technician hostage said the situation was a misunderstanding.

Carol Sinclair, 53, was arraigned in Halifax provincial court Friday on charges of forcibly confining an Aliant technician and uttering a threat against him Thursday.

But Sinclair thinks the charges against her will be dropped.

"There was no hostage-taking, no firearm, he wasn't touched in any way," she said, adding that security cameras will help prove that. "The statement he made was just wild, it didn't make any sense at all."

Sinclair said she had been trying to get in touch with Aliant for weeks to fix internet problems in her apartment.

She said she had previously been dealing with personal family issues and that she had a lot of work backed up which she relied on the internet for, and the situation caused her stress.

"I had about six days to do a month's worth of work," she said.

"I had made some calls through July, but I got nowhere. The day before all this I called for about five hours pretty consistently."

Sinclair said she finally decided to disguise her voice as a man's and called the company saying she was a businessman who needed the internet repaired.

She said the company said they would arrive the next morning to fix it.

"When they arrived, I said `I'm not going to be very polite, because I'm absolutely fed up with Aliant,'" said Sinclair. "...I was not a customer you'd want to have."

'She didn't like the answer'

Halifax police told the Halifax Chronicle Herald that when David Arthur Scott, 21, arrived to fix the internet on Thursday afternoon, he determined the problem was with the computer.

But Sinclair said she had tried using the internet on three different computers, and that it did not work on any of them.

"She didn't like the answer, and became very angry and agitated," said Const. Jeff Carr.

Sinclair said she asked Scott to call another technician after he could not repair the problem.

"She told the technician, in a tirade, that he was not leaving her until her internet was working and she told him she was keeping him hostage," said Carr.

Sinclair said Scott misheard her.

"I said I'm not holding you hostage, but I would like it if you'd stay until [the other technician] arrives," Sinclair said. "That's all I can think of where he got that from."

Carr said Sinclair implied she had a gun, but that the technician did not see one.

Police say the technician told Sinclair he had a disc in his truck that could repair her internet, and Sinclair said she was going with him so he wouldn't run off.

But Sinclair said she followed the technician downstairs to his truck to prop the door open to the building so he could get back in.

The technician then hopped in his truck and drove back to the Aliant office.

Police said they soon arrived at the apartment where they arrested an "extremely intoxicated woman" without incident.

Sinclair said she had only had about a third of a bottle of a vodka cooler before they arrived.

Playwright released with conditions

Sinclair said she doesn't know why the technician had been so spooked by the incident.

"Maybe he watches too much TV, that's all I could think," she said. "He's 21 apparently and I don't know if he understands the damage that he's done."

After spending Thursday night in police custody, Sinclair was released on conditions including that she have no contact with Scott or any Aliant employee.

An Aliant spokesman told the Halifax Chronicle Herald that the company does not discuss employee issues or anything that is before the courts.

They were not immediately available for contact Monday.

Sinclair is expected to return to court Sept. 30.