(CMR) The now infamous quarantine breach couple sentenced to four months in prison on Tuesday for breaching their quarantine has filed an appeal to have the ruling overturned with the Cayman Islands Court of Appeal.
Skylar Mack (18) from Georgia, US, and her 24-year-old Caymanian boyfriend Vanjae “VJ” Ramjeet were sentenced to serve prison time by Justice Roger Chapple.
The Grand Court judge found that a lower court’s decision to hand down a sentence of community service was “unduly lenient”, and a term of imprisonment was appropriate in the circumstances.
Since Tuesday, the case has drawn international attention with numerous debates about the appropriateness of the four-month prison sentence handed to both Mack and Ramjeet. Mack's grandmother took to ABC news to complain about her granddaughter being made an example of:
Reports are that two days after arriving on the island, Mack attended a public event where hundreds of people were in attendance. The pre-med student left her 14-day mandatory quarantine to attend the jet-ski event where Ramgeet was competing.
When the couple appeared before Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez in Summary Court on December 4 they were both ordered to serve 40 hours of community service and to pay CI$2,600 for mandatory quarantine facility. However, the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution appealed that ruling and the matter was urgently heard on Tuesday morning.
The Court of Appeal will be hearing the matter next week provisionally on December 22 once volunteer judges are arranged.
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