Janel (Republic of Doyle)

Redeemed villainess Janel

Janel, aka Katie (Sonya Salomaa), is a hidden redeemed villainess from "Identity Crisis," episode 4.03 of Republic of Doyle (airdate January 20, 2013).

Janel was introduced as the believed-to-be-deceased wife of Bradley Channing, who hired Jake and Malachy Doyle to find Janel after seeing a recent photo of her. Jake and Des Courtney spotted Janel and learned that she was going by Katie, leading the pair to believe that she faked her death to get away from Bradley. It was also revealed that she ran a day care center in her home, but upon entering, Jake and Des were tied up and subdued by Janel, who held the former at knifepoint and demanded answers, believing that the pair were sent to klll her.

Jake and Des broke free from their restraints, only to be confronted by Janel and a man holding the pair at gunpoint, with Jake knocking out the latter and taking the gun. As it turned out, the man was revealed as John Spencer, a U.S. Marshal, leading Jake to the correct conclusion that Janel was in witness protection. In addition, Janel responded to Jake's statement regarding Bradley by revealing that she didn't have a husband.

As the episode's progression ended up uncovering, Janel was originally part of a human smuggling ring; transporting people to the U.S., with Sheen Barry as an enforcer. After seeing Sheen abuse the people they were smuggling, Janel got out and planned to testify against the group, leading to Sheen tracking her to Canada, while Bradley was after the list of people under witness protection. In addition, Janel revealed that she and John became lovers, but kept it hidden due to the fact that they would be separated if their relationship went public. After John was abducted by Bradley, Janei met with Sheen later on and paid him off, but it was a distraction that allowed Jake to take down Sheen. The episode ended with John and Janel running off together following Sheen and Bradley's arrest, but not before leaving the Doyles a handful of cash as gratitude.