Jamaican ‘backtracker’ said he was led astray by girl

A Jamaican who said he entered Guyana illegally on the advice of a Guyanese who told him he could go through the `back track’ was on Monday fined $40, 000 by Chief Magistrate Priya Sewnarine-Beharry.

Accepting the July 18 charge, thirty-one-year-old Steve Anthony Reid, who said he usually comes to Guyana to buy clothes and shoes, explained that he was journeying to Guyana from Suriname where he met a girl who told him that he does not have to go to Guyana by plane.

He said that when he arrived at the boat landing, the immigration officer there told him he “needed the stamp” and he subsequently left but was called back and arrested at Springlands, Corentyne.

The facts relating to what transpired on the day in question were as charged, according to Prosecutor Bharat Mangru.

Reid was fined $40, 000 or in default six months imprisonment.