As part of its defence in the case of the Haitian nationals currently before the High Court the state has presented evidence that some of the migrants might be involved in the smuggling of children.
It has also said that they each lied to the immigration officer by claiming they would be staying at a Barrack Street address which has been an empty lot since August 2020.
According to an affidavit of defence signed by Detective Mitchell Caesar of the Criminal Investigation Department (CID), Myriame Vieux arrived in Guyana on November 7 with two minors aged 13 and 9 who are not related to her and whom she has admitted she did not meet until just before they departed Haiti.
Through a translator Vieux told Police on November 9 that she was the aunt of the two children. She later confessed that this was a lie admitting that not only did she not know the children but that she first met them at the Port au Prince Airport on November 7.
She has now claimed that they are the children of a former neighbour who lives in French Guiana.
According to the 33-year-old woman she contacted the neighbour for assistance in travelling to French Guiana including a place to stay upon her arrival and was asked in turn to transport the children.
“I received the two children with their travel documents and the authorization to travel at the airport. I never signed the documents, they came already signed…..I paid $5000.00USD for the trip from Haiti to Georgetown, now in Guyana I have to pay $400.00 USD for each person to travel to French Guiana……The interview I had with the police…I lied. Now I am saying the truth. I told the police that I came to Guyana to spend one month and go back to Haiti and that’s a lie,” she is quoted as saying to the police.
There were a total of seven children traveling among the 26 Haitian nationals who were detained by police and according to Caesar’s affidavit each “guardian” produced authorizations and claimed to be related to the children in their charge. This proved to be untrue in several instances.
On examination of the authorizations produced by Sonise Pierre who is travelling with a 17 year old, seven year old and 13 year old it was observed that the authorization in her possession was actually given to Luckner Francois to travel with the child and not Sonise Pierre.
“It was also observed that the name of the mother was spelt and signed differently on the authorization when compared to the spelling featured on the passport of the child. The passport number featured on the authorization for the child and the date of departure do not correspond with that on the child’s passport,” the affidavit added.
The state through the Attorney General has also presented to the Court evidence that all 26 migrants lied about where they would be staying while in Guyana.
An affidavit signed by Police Sergeant Nankumar Dalloo stated that several persons gave their address as Lot 110 Barrack Street, Kingston, Georgetown, which upon investigations was discovered to be an empty lot.
Further investigations revealed that one of the detained, Allandres Archer had rented the property for two months in 2017 but has since vacated after failing to pay his rent.
The owner of the property gave a statement to the police in which he noted that the house which was demolished in August was never a Hotel by the name of Havana.
Additionally another of the detained Marie Loveleyne Saintterme gave her address as Lot 52 Station Street, Kitty and investigations revealed that persons occupying Lot 52 on the Eastern and Western half of Station Street Kitty, denied knowing or expecting Marie Loveleyne Saintterme.
In each of the cases mentioned the migrants were found to have violated Guyanese law by lying to an immigration officer.
Specifically they are accusing of failing to answer truthfully a question posed by an immigration officer in contravention of Section 9(1) (a) of the Immigration Act.” As a consequence they have been deemed a “Prohibited Immigrant”.
The matter which was first heard by Chief Justice Roxane George on December 3 is scheduled for oral arguments today.
On December 3rd, Justice George granted a conservatory order staying a previous order made by Principal Magistrate Sherdel Isaacs-Marcus for the 26 Haitian nationals to be deported.
During the virtual hearing, the Chief Justice made it clear that her order which will override the magistrate’s order, is not intended to be a concession on anything.
She clarified that it is rather to maintain the status quo until the matter before her would have been fully heard and determined.
She then set December 18th at 1:30 for arguments.
The 26 Haitian nationals including seven children had been detained for weeks at the state-run Hugo Chavez Centre for Rehabilitation and Reintegration. They have since gone to addresses of their choice.
The individuals were to be deported for allegedly lying about where they would be staying during their visit to Guyana.
Their lawyer Darren Wade has argued that the action is “arbitrary” and was conducted with a clear disregard to his clients’ rights to Natural Justice.
