The governor general will not retract the pardon given to 23-year-old Guyanese national Rosaline Conway, who has since filed a legal challenge against the authorities’ move to deport her, according to the website CaribArena.
According to Attorney General Justin Simon, “We wouldn’t do that. I don’t think you should take it back.” It has been widely suggested that the pardon should be retracted, but Simon noted that it was legal.
Conway is the mother of an infant born in Antigua & Barbuda after she was sent to prison while pregnant.
The report noted that she was released from behind bars on humanitarian grounds last year after being convicted and sentenced to two-and-a-half years for stealing US$37,000 from First Caribbean regional bank’s St John’s branch.
Conway contends, in her legal petition, that her deportation would break up her family, since it would separate her, and possibly the child, from the father.
AG Simon does not support that claim. He told CaribArena the court case was filed in collaboration with the child’s grandfather, and any movement of the mother could include the child without any fear of interference from the Antiguan authorities.
“She is the mother. She can take the child with her,” Simon said. “The child is and always will be a citizen of Antigua & Barbuda.”
