Guyanese jailed for trafficking Jamaican nationals
A 44-year-old farmer in Guyana has been jailed for 4 years after he was discovered responsible of trafficking two Jamaican nationals.
A Guyana Police Drive (GPF) assertion mentioned that Tito Browne was additionally sentenced to one-year imprisonment on the depend of withholding the passports of the 2 Jamaican nationals.
Browne, who was arrested by police on April 28, 2021, sooner or later after a wished bulletin was issued for him, was additionally fined GUY$200,000 (One Guyana greenback=US$0.004 cents) and ordered to pay $6.3M in restitution to the victims.
Browne, also referred to as ‘Tommy’ and ‘Yankee’ appeared earlier than Justice of the Peace Wanda Fortune on the Linden Justice of the Peace’s Court docket on Thursday. He was charged with two counts of trafficking in individuals and on every depend, he was sentenced to 4 years imprisonment. The sentences will run concurrently.
The Justice of the Peace handed down the sentences after an eight-month-long trial that started in December 2021 and concluded final August.
The courtroom was informed that in November 2020, one of many victims met a person in Jamaica, who indicated that Browne wanted somebody to work on his farm at Kara Kara Creek, Linden, in Guyana, and was keen to pay US$5,000 for the work to be carried out.
The primary sufferer reportedly knowledgeable the second sufferer in regards to the alternative, and collectively they organized with Browne, who promised to facilitate all their journey bills.
Each victims left Jamaica on December 12, 2020, and upon their arrival right here, Browne instructed them to tell immigration that they might solely be spending two weeks.
“Upon arriving on the campsite at Kara Kara Creek, Browne knowledgeable them that they might be spending six months on the campsite and confiscated their passports. The victims recounted that from the date of entry to twenty fourth April 2021, they labored on the Kara Kara camp however by no means acquired any compensation from Browne,” the police assertion mentioned.
The victims added that Browne would go to periodically and demand that they work extra diligently. Although he repeatedly promised to pay them, he by no means did. They have been solely allowed to contact their households from Browne’s telephone at any time when he visited the campsite.
They informed the police that for 3 weeks, nobody visited them, and their provides ran low, forcing them to go away the positioning.
“The victims have been pressured to enterprise from the camp seeking different campsites, strolling by way of bushes and swamp lands till they managed to find a logger who ultimately took them to a village the place they associated their story and made a police report,” the police mentioned.
CMC/