(CMR) A UK tv star who left quarantine and attempted to flee Barbados with her boyfriend last week was fined $12,000 (US$6000) when she appeared in court on Wednesday.
Zara Holland, a former star on Britain program Love Island, and Elliot Love were arrested as they attempted to board a British Airways flight at the Grantley Adams International Airport on Wednesday, December 30.
Holland pleaded guilty to breaching COVID-19 protocols without a reasonable explanation.
According to Barbados Today, Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes ordered her to pay a fine of BB$12,000 in seven days or spend nine months in jail.
Holland is out on a $20,000 bail with a surety to guarantee that the fine is paid.
Holland and Love were tested for COVID-19 upon arrival to the island and told to stay in their hotel room until test results were returned.
Love’s result returned positive, and the couple was told they would be moved to a quarantine facility.
However, they cut off wrist bands that identified them as quarantining guests and left the hotel before they could be moved to the quarantine facility. They took a taxi to the airport and attempted to flee the island.
Meantime, lawyers are expected to file an appeal to have the sentencing of a Jamaican man, who was sentenced to six months in prison for breaking quarantine in Barbados, overturned.
Dean George Scott was ordered to pay $6000 or serve six months in prison for leaving a quarantine facility to go to a shop.
Scott was unable to pay the fine and was given six months in prison by Magistrate Weekes.
However, several people have since said the punishment given to Scott was too harsh as others have only been allowed to pay a fine.
Lawyers Michelle Russell, Keisha Hyde-Porchetta, and the Jamaican Association of Barbados (JAMBAR) are fighting to appeal the sentence on the grounds that Scott returned two negative COVID-19 tests and has been placed in a prison that has since have a widespread of COVID-19 cases.
Russell told the Jamaica Gleaner in an interview last week:
“Scott was treated unduly harshly. To be 100 per cent clear, he deserved to be punished for breaking quarantine, but there were so many mitigating factors in his case that didn’t warrant his imprisonment. He walked out of a government facility with ease, which speaks to the laxness in protocols.”
The lawyer also said Scott was not given enough time to come up with the money but was immediately imprisoned when he told the senior magistrate he did not have the money to pay the fine.
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