Court Ruling leaves Young Son without Mother, Father killed in 2022 violence

Wilkie Arthur

Freelance Court Reporter

#TurksandCaicos, September 19, 2023 – A young son is left without a father, taken through gun violence and his mother, now deported back to her home country of Jamaica.

A Jamaican woman, ANDREA ROSE MARIE ATKINSON, now in her late fifties, who was married to a Wheeland, Blue Hills, Providenciales native, appeared before the Hon. Chief Magistrate Mr. Jolyon Hatmin.

Atkinson was charged on August 7th with remaining in the Islands beyond the permitted time.  The Chief Magistrate (CM) asked the lady if she would like an opportunity to get legal representation?  She said, your Honour, I just want to get this over with because “mi can’t take da cell no more” “mi bin lock up now fa sa much days, mi just a plea guilty and go back to mi Yard.”

The lady, communicating in her native, raw Jamaican patois tried to explain to the CM that she once had a permanent resident certificate (PRC) but after the divorced she was trying to get a work permit.

She said, yes, she overstayed but she was trying to make herself legal.

The woman asked the CM for some time to sort out her son and her things before they send her home.  The mother of a boy child told the chief magistrate that she didn’t know where her child was because since law enforcement arrested her and took her into Immigration lock-up and since, she has not seen or heard from her son.

This matter was heard in August.

Investigation by this reporter uncovered that the son, a Turks and Caicos Islander, was taken in by one of the deceased sisters; therefore an aunt to the boy.

The CM sentenced the Jamaican woman ANDREA ROSE MARIE ATKINSON to a fine of $2,000.00 to be paid immediately in default, she will serve 90 days imprisonment.

He also recommended deportation; giving the former PRC holder seven days to sort out her son and her belongings.