Skylar Mack, an 18-year-old woman from Georgia, faces a four-month prison sentence in the Cayman Islands for violating the territory’s COVID-19 quarantine protocols for visitors. Her boyfriend, a resident of the Caymans, is going to jail also for aiding and abetting her.
Mack’s family appealed to President Donald Trump for help. On Tuesday, a State Department spokesperson told BuzzFeed News that officials are “aware of reports of the detention of a US citizen in the Cayman Islands” but had no further comment due to privacy considerations.
Mack flew to Grand Cayman on November 27 to visit Vanjae Ramgeet, who was participating in a Jet Ski competition.
She tested negative upon arrival but had to isolate for 14 days. She had a wristband and cellphone they gave her to track her. Mack signed a document agreeing to stay put.
Two days later, she took off the wristband and watched Ramgeet in the Jet Ski event.
After seven hours of interacting with people, the police were alerted and took her away – maskless.
They both pleaded guilty to the and were each sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine.
UNDULY LENIENT
Then the country’s public prosecutor said their sentences were “unduly lenient.” He appealed to the Grand Court to impose prison sentences for the couple.
“These offenses should have been met with far more stringent measures,” the Cayman Islands director of public prosecutions, Patrick Moran, said. This was during the appeal hearing last week. “When it comes to a matter of deterrence, the sentence imposed [is] likely to have little to no effect on other like-minded individuals.”
Okay then, so they’re crazy in the Caymans too.
Ramjeet, in addition to going to jail, was stripped of his prize money and award and banned from several races.
They are the first to be sentenced under stiffer, revised penalties for violating the 14-day quarantine requirement. The new rules include a prison sentence of up to two years and a fine of up to $10,000.
As of Friday, the country had reported a total of 311 confirmed COVID-19 cases and two deaths since the pandemic began.
The country is also investigating several other cases of breaches in quarantine protocol, the Compass reported.
Miss Mack sent a letter of apology that was published in the local paper. Her family said she’s hysterical.
“I don’t know why someone is taking it so personal or [has] such a vendetta toward my daughter or toward an American 18-year-old girl who was there on a vacation and who made a mistake,” her father, Dennis Mack, who is a professional Jet Skier, told CBS 46 News. “It’s absolutely heart-wrenching that you take someone so special. … The rest of her life is getting torn away from her.”
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