(Barbados Nation) BRIDGETOWN, Barbados:
Alicia Young, the Barbados Immigration Officer, who interviewed Jamaican Shanique Myrie on her arrival at the Grantley Adams International Airport in 2011, said she became suspicious after the first time visitor declared that it was on the Internet that she met the person who was supposed to host her.
Young, a junior immigration officer, was testifying on the second day of the Barbados leg of a hearing by the Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) in Bridgetown.
Myrie has taken the Barbados Government to court claiming that she was subjected to an intrusive cavity search and abuse on arrival in Barbados.
In court today, Young said she referred Myrie to her superior after learning that it was the first time the Jamaican was visiting Barbados and that she had met her host on the Internet.
Young, testified that immigration officers had been instructed to refer to supervisors, passengers who had contacted their hosts on the Internet.
“It happens very frequently now,” Young told the court in response to a question from Myrie’s attorney, Nancy Anderson.
Young also said Myrie had $US 300 in her possession, and a return ticket for 15 days later.
The Immigration Officer said her computer indicated Myrie was entering Barbados for the first time, and all such information was placed on the woman’s Immigration form before Myrie was referred to her boss Merlo Reid.
Under cross-examination by Anderson, Young revealed that while she can interview and process passengers, she cannot deny anyone entry into Barbados.
“I can only refer persons to my supervisor after I interview them,” she told the court.
Meanwhile, today, the CCJ ruled that the statements of two persons interviewed by a Barbadian police sergeant cannot be admitted into evidence through the policeman.
Myrie’s lawyers wanted the statements to be admitted into evidence through the policeman and not directly by the persons themselves.
However, the jurists say the statements can be used in cross examination.
