Shanique Myrie free to return to Barbados

CMC – Prime Minister Freundel Stuart said surveillance cameras will be installed at the Grantley Adams International Airport (GAIA), as Barbados continues to deal with the controversy sparked by allegations of Jamaican Shanique Myrie, who was sexually abused by Immigrations officials on her arrival here last month.



In his first televised news conference with the state-owned Caribbean Broadcasting Corporation (CBC) on Tuesday night, Stuart, who became head of government following the death of Prime Minister David Thompson last October, said that 20-year-old Shanique Myrie is free to return to Barbados and identify the person who assaulted her.



Jamaica’s Foreign Affairs and Foreign Trade Minister Dr Kenneth Baugh said that the matter could be headed to the Trinidad-based Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ), if Bridgetown and Kingston cannot work out their differences.



The Prime Minister said that his administration had moved to deal with the incident as soon as it became aware of it adding “there was also a coordinated investigation into the affair by the police.



“I have in my possession a full report by the police on the issue, statements from all the persons here who were involved and some who were not directly involved but who had connections with. Myrie and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of course, since the matter is being dealt with on that basis (and) based on what that report has said will be communicating with the Foreign Ministry in Jamaica.”



The Prime Minister made it clear that no obstacles would be put in place to prevent the 20-year-old Jamaican woman from returning to the island.



Last month, Jamaica sent a high level delegation to Bridgetown for talks with Barbadian authorities on the issue after Myrie said she was subjected to an invasive cavity search by a female immigration officer when she arrived in Barbados on March 14.