A woman and her sister, who forged two Jamaican passports to travel from Guyana to Jamaica and then to the US, were each ordered to pay a $120,000 fine or alternatively serve 12 months in prison when they appeared before Acting Chief Magistrate Melissa Robertson at the Georgetown Magistrate’s Court.
Fifty-one-year-old Shivwanti and her sister Shivram Singh, 49, of Lamaha and Albert streets, Queenstown both pleaded guilty to the charges of knowingly and willingly making false statements on a declaration form, uttering falsified passports and using them.
Shivwanti and her sister both admitted that at the Cheddi Jagan International Airport on April 11 they tried to enter Guyana by knowingly and willingly making false statements on their declaration forms.
The sisters also admitted that on the same day, being persons entering Guyana, they tendered falsified Jamaican passports. The two also used those passports to enter Guyana.
Their lawyer Rexford Jackson stated that on April 11, his clients were scheduled to attend an interview at the US Embassy to obtain permanent US visas but they were caught with the false passports. He said the passports were a mere oversight on his clients’ part.
He said the court should take into consideration that his clients had admitted to the offences and in so doing had not wasted the court’s time.
Jackson requested that the magistrate be lenient with his clients.
However, Police Prosecutor Denise Griffith stated that the two sisters left Guyana and travelled to Jamaica in 1985 and while there they falsified documents to obtain Jamaican passports. She said that they were using their Guyanese passports while in Jamaica. Griffith said that the defendants had travelled to the US with false Jamaican passports. She went on to say that when they returned to Guyana on April 11 they used those same passports.
She also stated that the sisters were scheduled to attend an interview at the US Embassy on the same day that they were caught with the false passports.
The magistrate subsequently ordered that the sisters each pay a fine of $120,000 or spend 12 months in prison.
…talking about passports, i hope the police give me back mine when my matter is finished today…me too wanna leave this place later on.
Be careful where you Sandy,B’do and T&T ent good right now and if you ready to wuk hard then come to North America,if not stay in GT.
GOOD LUCK WITH YOU CASE SANDHURST:)
Hope all goes well Sandie and hope you get your document back.
Congrats Sandhurst First, on the dismissal of your case. Thank God for His continued favor towards you. You should have instructed your Lawyer to request and solicit the return of your passport and a time line on the record, before leaving the court room. remember the saying “bush gat ears”; keep your travel plans between you and God na man, don’t tell Peter aah tal, cause e gan tel Tom and Dick and arry… stay bless now.
They are very brave,weren’t they afraid of the crime rate in Jamaica? Well I guess it is Goodbye to the American visas,I think that is the sadess part for them,ow!!
yes, so sad; after all this work; too bad. but guyana has crime too!
that’s too bad! guyana has crime too!
Stay in Guyana and put your x the right place next time!
Things not nice deh so everybody frleeing. I wonder what deh gonna seh.
Right SandHurst, God is in charge.
Good Luck !!!! – you know how these people stay
This is a sure sign of desperation. The leader of the country is silent on the state of the economy, the terrible crimes that so pervasive in the country and the Bajan situation. Silence will not make the problems go away neither is sitting on his hands!!!
what dem homaan dis tink at all, jamaica betta dan guyana?
dem right to get fine so much dem stupid
Are Indo-Guyanese really fleeing Guyana by hook and crook under the PPP?
Look at their ages, they would have been given those 2 visas, now they r finished with, they have to remain in Guyana, 4 what,? they at that age should not have committed that crime, sorry 4 them, would not meet them at Sandy’s roti shop.