American teen gets 4-month jail sentence for violating Cayman Islands’ coronavirus rules
Updated Dec 22, 2020;
An 18-year-old girl from Georgia has been sentenced to four months in jail in the Cayman Islands after she and her boyfriend violated the territory’s quarantine restrictions, according to reports.
Now the family of Skylar Mack is appealing to President Donald Trump for help in getting Mack released, NBC News reports.
“She just wants to come home,” Jeanne Mack, the teen’s grandmother, said Monday. “She knows she made a mistake, she owns to up to that, but she’s pretty hysterical right now.”
Mack is a pre-med student at Mercer College, the Atlanta Journal Constitution reports. She was in the Cayman Islands visiting her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24. Both have been in custody since Dec. 15. Ramgeet was sentenced to four months in jail as well for aiding Mack, the Journal Constitution reports.
An 18-year-old medical student from the United States is currently facing a four-month jail sentence after violating the Cayman Islands COVID-19 quarantine protocols for visitors.
Skylar Mack s family has already appealed to President Donald Trump to help her, according to a Buzzfeed News report.
A State Department spokesperson told the news outlet that officials are aware of the reports of detention of a U.S. citizen in the Cayman Islands. However, the spokesperson did not further comment due to privacy considerations.
Mack flew to Grand Cayman on Nov. 27 to visit her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet. Ramgeet is a 24-year-old resident who was participating in a Jet Ski competition.
Georgia teen jailed in Cayman Islands for violating COVID-19 protocol By CNN Staff | December 22, 2020 at 4:57 PM CST - Updated December 22 at 5:54 PM
(CNN) - A U.S. college student and her boyfriend are in prison in the Cayman Islands after violating COVID-19 protocols.
Skylar Mack, 18, is a pre-med major at Mercer University in Macon, Georgia.
Her grandmother says she visited the Cayman Islands last month and was supposed to isolate for two weeks.
Instead, she attended her boyfriend’s jet ski competition a few days later. Attendees reported Mack and she was arrested.
Mack initially faced community service and a fine, but according to a local newspaper, a prosecutor appealed for a stricter sentence.
Cayman Compass Mack, Ramgeet sentences reduced to 2 months
Skylar Mack, right, walks toward the courthouse on Tuesday, 22 Dec. for her appeal hearing on her sentence. She and boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet were sentenced on appeal to two months in prison for breaching quarantine regulations. - Photo: Taneos Ramsay
Skylar Mack and Vanjae Ramgeet – the couple whose quarantine breach case has garnered international headlines – had their sentences reduced from four months to two months in jail.
Both were originally ordered to perform 40 hours of community service and pay $2,600 to the Cayman Islands government. That amount is the standard each person must pay to stay at a government-approved quarantine facility.