(Barbados Nation) Shanique Myrie was actually cleared to enter Barbados when she first arrived in the country two years ago.
But that clearance was cancelled moments later, after it was determined by Immigration Department officials at the Grantley Adams International Airport the Jamaican woman had misrepresented information regarding who would be her host during her 15-day stay in Barbados.
That was revealed to the Caribbean Court of Justice yesterday by senior Immigration Officer Merlo Reid, as Myrie’s discrimination case against the government of Barbados entered its third day.
Myrie is claiming she was discriminated against on her arrival in Barbados on March 14, 2011, and that she was subjected to a humiliating body-cavity search before being detained and deported back to Jamaica the next day.
Reid, an Immigration Officer for 32 years, and a supervisor for the last six, informed the seven-judge panel that after Myrie was referred to him by junior officer Alicia Young, he interviewed her for about five minutes and she was granted a 30-day stay in Barbados.
“I was satisfied with what she had presented to me,” Reid said during cross-examination by Myrie’s attorney, Michelle A Brown.
Reid said during that initial interview Myrie informed him she had known her host, Pamela Clarke, for about two years, had met her over the Internet, and had remained in contact with the Barbadian woman about twice weekly during that period.
“I believed her. She came across as believable,” Reid added, noting that after stamping Myrie’s passport with the 30-day stamp, he ushered her back into the Immigration Department’s secondary waiting room.
He testified he then informed police constable Everton Gittens, of the Royal Barbados Police Force’s Drug Squad, that he had completed interviewing Myrie and had “cleared” her to enter Barbados.
He noted Gittens had previously indicated he wanted to interview the Jamaican woman, but didn’t indicate why.
Things changed dramatically moments later, however, Reid testified, when Gittens informed him he had also interviewed Myrie.
The policeman then passed on certain information to the senior officer, who conducted a second interview with Myrie.
In response to a question from Brown, Reid said the policeman did not give him any indication Myrie could be a drug courier.
Reid said Gittens informed him that during the policeman’s interview, he (Gittens) had come to understand Myrie was not, in fact, staying with Pamela Clarke, as had been previously indicated.
“He did not say anything about drugs,” Reid answered when asked the question again by Brown. “I spoke to Pamela Clarke after Gittens provided me with information. He called her and passed the phone to me. She (Clarke) admitted it was true that she had no knowledge of Shanique Myrie staying with her, but was in fact doing her friend Daniel Forde a favour.”
Reid noted that in response to a question from him, Clarke also said she was not in the habit of facilitating persons coming into Barbados.
“Pamela Clarke said Shanique Myrie was not staying with her,” the senior Immigration Officer added.
When Brown made a suggestion Reid was not telling the truth, the senior officer said he was in fact being truthful.
The witness noted that Myrie’s initial clearance stamp was cancelled and entered in the department’s refusal register about 45 minutes after she was first referred to him by junior officer Young.
