The Tribune

By NICO SCAVELLA

Tribune Staff Reporter

nscavella@tribunemedia.net

FIVE Haitian nationals were sentenced to serve a month at the Bahamas Department of Corrections for illegally landing in the country, according to a press statement from the Department of Immigration.

Benson St Surin, Thon Paul, Jean Joseph, Louis Anel and Elvie Joseph were each convicted of the offence when they appeared before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans on Friday, the statement said.

Meanwhile, a Jamaican woman, Garshea Marie Martin, was convicted of overstaying and fined $2,000. Failure to pay the fine would result in two months' imprisonment.

Earlier this week, five foreign women—three Venezuelans, a Guyanese, and a Jamaican, were collectively fined upwards of $5,000 for overstaying in The Bahamas.

Venezuelan nationals Beatriz Castro, Yanneris Caicedo and Deymilis Aragor, along with Guyanese native Chelsea Alexander were fined $1,000 each by Acting Deputy Chief Magistrate Subsola Swain after admitting to overstaying.

Jamaican national Terrian McPherson was fined $1,500 for the same crime after admitting to overstaying in the country by one year and eight months at the time of her arrest.

Another five women – Beatriz Marquez, Mallesia Cadogan, Tavanna Bennett, Tameka Clair and Tomay Clarke – were also fined $1,000 each for being caught with fraudulent extension stamps in their respective passports.

These women, who are from Venezuela (Marquez), Guyana (Bennett and Cadogan) and Jamaica (Clair and Clarke), were all apprehended during “Operation Lockdown” conducted by Department of Immigration and police officers at the Sugar Hill nightclub on Thompson Boulevard last Saturday.