The Cayman Islands evidently isn't fooling around when it comes to enforcing its COVID-19 quarantine rules. Just this week, A U.S. college student and her boyfriend were sentenced to four months in prison after they violated the islands' strict COVID-19 measures.
Skylar Mack, an 18-year-old from Georgia, and Vanjae Ramgeet, a 24-year-old Cayman national, have been in prison since December 15, when the ruling was passed. Both had pled guilty to the charges against them, but their attorney, Jonathan Hughes, said that he'll be appealing the ruling and arguing for a less severe sentence.
"They're two young people who have never been in trouble before," he told The Associated Press in a phone interview. "This is the first time they've had interaction with police, the courts, prison."
A pre-med student at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia, Mack arrived in the Cayman Islands on November 27. As an international arrival, she was required to complete a 14-day quarantine, as mandated by the government. Instead, she broke quarantine on November 29 to attend a watersports event with her boyfriend, Hughes admitted.
As part of its COVID-19 precautions, this British Overseas Territory fits foreign travelers with electronic tracking devices in order to monitor their movements.
Presiding Judge Roger Chapple is reported to have said during Tuesday's sentencing, "This was entirely deliberate and planned, as evidenced by her desire to switch her wristband the day before to a looser one that she was then able to remove." He said that the defendants' decision to violate regulations was born of "selfishness and arrogance."
Reportedly, Mack spent seven hours out in public without wearing a face mask or practicing social distancing.
Initially, following their arrest, a judge had ordered the couple to perform 40 hours of community service and pay a $4,400 fine. Additionally, Ramgeet was ordered to obey a 7:00 p.m. curfew for two months.
But, the prosecution appealed that sentence, arguing that the punishment for their infraction was too lenient and wouldn't deter others from violating restrictions. On Tuesday, a higher court sided with the prosecution and ordered that the couple be imprisoned immediately.
Mack and Ramgeet are the first to be sentenced under amended Cayman Islands legislation that targets violators of COVID-19 restrictions. Originally, the law called for a $2,400 fine and up to six months' imprisonment, while the revised version espouses a penalty of $12,000 and up to two years in prison.
Hughes told reporters that Mack's family is quite concerned about her. "They're worried for her because she's in prison in a foreign country on her own," he said. "While this is something she brought on herself, it's very distressing for her."
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