Major String of Immigration Offences for Man who says he was illegally employed at Parrot Cay

Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Reporter

#TurksandCaicos, August 18, 2023 – According to court records, revealed in the testimony of the alleged accused, who speaks English fluently, PHILOMIN AUGUSTIN, 26 he was working as a front office guest service agent at Parrot Cay, luxury resort island in the Turks and Caicos; a serious offence.

Add to being illegally, gainfully employed in the TCI, Augustin was charged with unlawful entry and possession of an irregular certificate; he allegedly held a fraudulent Belonger Status Card.

He was arrested on the Island of North Caicos on July 11th, 2023. Augustin first appeared in court on August 7th and the matter was adjourned to August 15th 2023.

The Haitian man is seeking legal representation through legal aid therefore the matter was given a further date of August 30; the intent being to proceed and possibly conclude at that time.

The accused outlined a number of areas in his bid to seek sympathy from the Court; a common refrain in the courts now, the dire humanitarian circumstances in his country.

The judge was not moved and told Augustin through an interpreter (despite him speaking English to the court) that “what is alleged against you, if convicted, you may be spending a little while at that location but for now the case is adjourned and you are remanded until the 30th August, 2023”.

The learned Chief Magistrate told him, if he wished to abandon his legal aid application then do so before the 30th and we can proceed with the matter but if not, we have to wait until we get a response from the legal aid board.

It is still not known if any sanctions or chargers had been laid against the Parrot Cay Resort for employing an alleged illegal immigrant, who was allegedly in possession of forged TCI national documents.