KINGSTON, Jamaica – The attorney for a Jamaican woman who claimed she had been sexually violated by Barbadian custom officials in March, today that the case will now be heard by the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) early next year.
Attorney Anthony Hylton, a former foreign affairs minister, told the Jamaica Observer newspaper “Yes we will be going to the CCJ” early next year. He gave no specific date for the hearing.
Shanique Myrie, 22, had accused the female Barbados official of sexually violating here when she arrived at the Grantley Adams International Airport on March 14.
Barbados’ Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister, Maxine McClean, had dismissed Myrie’s allegations, saying that immigration and customs authorities investigated the claims of abuse and found them to be baseless.
In March, prominent Caribbean academic and political scientist, Professor Neville Duncan, called on Caribbean Community (CARICOM) governments to make a definitive statement on the issue of free movement within the region in light of the accusation by Myrie.
He said the issue speaks to the wider issue of free movement under the Caricom Single Market Economy (CSME) that allows for free movement of goods, skills, services and labour across the region.
Former Barbados Prime Minister Owen Arthur called for “quiet diplomacy” in the handling of the matter. (CMC)
