A British couple is facing possible people smuggling charges following statements from two Ethiopian men found aboard their yacht when it arrived in Cayman Brac, prosecutors said Tuesday.
Clive Gurzhii and Iuliia Gurzhii have so far been charged with illegal landing and failing to complete a disembarkation card. They are both being held in custody.
Speaking at a Summary Court hearing Tuesday, prosecutor Ben Brown said new witness statements from the two men, who were discovered on board the vessel, had been received and translated on the morning of the hearing.
Based on those statements, he said further charges of human smuggling or human trafficking would be brought.
He said this was based on allegations from the men of “how they came to be on the yacht, their treatment on the yacht and where that yacht had been prior to arriving on Cayman Brac”.
A Summary Court trial before Chief Magistrate Angelyn Hernandez was scheduled for 15 and 16 Aug. Prior to that, a case management hearing has been scheduled for Friday, 2 Aug. to give time for the full charges to be laid and for translators to be organised.
The Gurzhii couple, who was unrepresented at Tuesday’s hearing, appeared by separate video links from HMP Northward and Fairbanks prison, but did not speak during the proceedings.
Clive Gurzhii, also listed in court documents as Clive Freeman and Clive Fitzpatrick, held a written message up to the camera, “Evidence of a crime? CQV Act 1666”.
The writing on a second sheet of paper, also scribbled in purple felt pen and held up to the camera by Gurzhii, was harder to make out but included references to entrapment and the phrase “do not consent, do not acquiesce, do not adjudicate”.
It was not clear what Gurzhii meant by the sign and he did not speak at the hearing.
The Cestui Que Vie Act 1666, which literally translates as ‘he who lives’, is a 17th century Act of the UK Parliament, still in effect today, which provides for the presumption of death after seven years for people missing at sea for the purposes of estate planning.
Customs and Border Control officials confirmed earlier this month, following enquiries from the Compass, that a 39-year-old woman and 52-year-old man were arrested after arriving on Cayman Brac on board a yacht, Moondancer, on 14 May. There were five people on board the vessel, including a child.
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