Shanique Myrie expects payment today

Sheldon Williams, Staff Reporter

Shanique Myrie expects to receive the US$38,000 (approximately J$4 million) owed to her in damages from the Barbados Government today.

"They didn't give us any timeline. It was me who came out and said they were taking too long, so I started making up noise and making phone calls," Myrie told The Gleaner yesterday after attending a service at the Nation of Islam headquarters in Portmore, St Catherine.

She said she was at the service to lend support to Imam David Muhammad, Eastern Caribbean representative of Minister Louis Farrakhan and the Nation of Islam, who was present to speak on reparations, contemporary black philosophy, and Caribbean unity.

Barbados Attorney General Adriel Braithwaite stated last week that the money awarded to Myrie by the Caribbean Court Of Justice(CCJ) had been paid, but Myrie claimed her account had not been credited.

"They said that the money has been paid, but my lawyer hasn't confirmed anything with me as yet, so I am giving her until tomorrow (today) to confirm it with me, but Barbados said it had been paid from Thursday," she said.

"I heard it from the attorney general in Barbados and the media in Barbados," she added.

Alleged discrimination

Myrie was denied entry into Barbados in 2011, and the CCJ, in October last year, awarded her pecuniary damages in the sum of BDS$2,240 (BDS$1 = US$0.50 cents) and non-pecuniary damages to the tune of BDS$75,000.

Myrie had alleged that when she travelled to Barbados on March 14, 2011, she was discriminated against because of her nationality, subjected to a body cavity search, detained overnight in a cell, and deported to Jamaica the following day.

Myrie also claimed she was subjected to derogatory remarks by a Barbadian immigration officer and asked the CCJ to determine the minimum standard of treatment applicable to CARICOM citizens moving around the region.