The Cayman Islands has reduced the sentence for a U.S. woman who violated the island’s coronavirus protocols, BuzzFeed News reported, citing local media.
Skylar Mack, an 18-year old pre-med student a Mercer University, was sentenced to four months in jail for not following the 14-day isolation period for visitors on the island when she went to a ski competition that her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, was participating in.
The Cayman Islands Court of Appeals reduced Mack’s four-month prison sentence to two months, according to the Cayman Compass.
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Mack tested negative for the virus when she arrived in the Cayman Islands on Nov. 27 to visit Ramgeet, Jonathan Hughes, the couple’s attorney told NBC’s “Today” on Monday. The couple went to a jet ski event that that Ramgeet was competed in, and Mack left her electronic monitoring device at home.
The couple was initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine after pleading guilty to disobeying COVID-19 restrictions. However, a prosecutor pushed for a harsher sentence.
Attorneys for Mack and Ramgeet appealed to the Court of Appeals on Tuesday, the Cayman Compass reported, arguing that the judge placed a heavy weight on public outrage. The Cayman News Service reported that the lawyers also said the couple had been made an example of.
Ramgeet, who was charged with aiding and abetting his girlfriend, also had his sentence reduced to two months, BuzzFeed reported. He was also stripped of his competition’s prize.
Hughes told BuzzFeed that the couple was grateful that the court decided to hear the case “with such urgency.”
“Whilst it was our hope that Skylar would be able to return home to resume her studies in January, we accept the decision of the Court and look forward to receiving its written reasons in due course,” he told the news outlet.
Mack’s grandmother Jeanne Mack told “Today” on Monday that her granddaughter was “pretty hysterical,” adding, “She cries. She wants to come home.” Jeanne Mack also said she wrote a letter to President TrumpDonald TrumpGeorgia Senate candidate Ossoff backs Trump’s call for K checks White House wishes Birx well after she announces retirement Pelosi responds to Trump: Let’s push for K checks ‘this week’ MORE asking for his help in the case.