Two people who recently travelled to the Cayman Islands have been fined $1,000 each for multiple quarantine violations.
Appearing in court via video-link on Monday, 23 Nov., Pascal Terjenan and Christina Gurunian both pleaded guilty to charges of refusing to comply with an order given by a medical officer, according to court documents.
Terjenan, 52, and Gurunian, 34, who are both from Canada, arrived in Grand Cayman on 13 Nov. Both were fitted with geo-fencing wristbands and escorted to an apartment complex in West Bay.
The charges alleged that both Terjenan and Gurunian “failed to comply with the requests given by the medical officer of health by leaving [their] place of isolation without advance authorisation from the medical officer of health”.
The defendants were charged under Section 3 (2)[b] of the Control of COVID-19 (No. 2) Regulations 2020 which requires a tourist or visitor to comply with the directions given by medical officers. Section 3 (5) prescribes a fine of up to $5,000 and imprisonment of up to six months.
Police were called to an apartment on 19 Nov., after the property managers alerted officers of the breaches.
According to court documents, the managers became suspicious of Terjenan and Gurunian after they both requested numerous favours, which prompted them to review the complex’s CCTV footage.
Court documents say that upon reviewing the footage, the managers saw that Gurunian failed to wear her face mask upon arrival at the complex and on several other occasions when she walked from her apartment to deposit rubbish in the property’s dumpster.
The documents say both Terjenan and Gurunian were also observed outside of their apartment without their geo-fencing wristbands and, during one incident, they were both recorded swimming in the ocean at the back of the property.
On another occasion, Gurunian was observed jumping the complex’s wall with the adjoining property and is thought to have gone to liquor and grocery stores.
On 19 Nov., officers attended the apartment complex and spoke to both defendants. According to court documents, officers noticed that the geo-fencing bracelets appeared to have been tampered with, and may have been removed.
The Summary Court fined both defendants $1,000 each or 90 days in jail in default of the fine. Both defendants were also ordered to pay $200 in court costs incurred by the Crown.
Terjenan and Gurunian have been transported to a more secure quarantine location under police escort.
Editor’s note: The spellings of the names of those involved in this matter were taken from court documents. The Compass is aware of social media accounts of those believed to be the defendants with slightly different spellings.
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Traveller’s left quarantine. They should be fined more and thrown into jail. How dare they jeopardize the rest of the community. We have all quarantined for 15 days. What makes them so special??
They didn’t charge enough for this deliberate act
I predicted correctly in my comment on the original article that this breach was not identified by the Govt surveillance team and suspected they would not be fined anywhere near the maximum. It is of additional concern that they wondered around outside the property without their wristbands and this was not detected by Govt.
Here was a golden opportunity to show the government was serious about quarantine and they blew it.
Should have been a $10,000 fine each and permanent ban from Cayman.
I had to stay in my unit for the 15 days and wear the wrist band as did ny wife. These people should be barred from the island forever
As a Canadian, I’m extremely disappointed by the actions of these folks.
My husband and I welcomed the opportunity to quarantine for 15 days … it was this process that allowed us to be free of masks and enjoy the Cayman Islands and our home here amongst the Caymanians.
We love being here, we love our home here, we love every thing about the island.
Word to those who read this …. if you are seeking to come to the island(s), respect the rules of the island(s), PERIOD!
I feel the penalty was light, I wish the Government had make an example of them …if they are willing to skirt something as serious as the quarantine process, imagine how stupid they could be when free to roam.
Maybe if they head back down when COVID becomes a thing of the past, or at least a much lower priority (fingers crossed), just maybe, CI-CBC wont be so accommodating, wouldn’t that be icing on the cake 🙂