CCJ grants leave to Myrie in finger rape case

The Caribbean Court of Justice (CCJ) has granted special leave to 24-year-old Shanique Myrie, to begin proceedings against the Barbados government in relation to allegations that she was sexually assaulted by an Immigration officer last year.



Myrie has accused a female immigration officer of assaulting her during a cavity search at the Grantley Adams International Airport on March 14 last year.



She was also denied entry to Barbados.



When the case was called up in Barbados earlier today, the five-member CCJ panel, headed by its President, Sir Dennis Byron, approved the application.



Court officials say as a result of the ruling, Myrie’s attorneys will now have 21 days to file the necessary documents.



Myrie’s attorney, Michelle Brown had argued that Myrie was subjected to forceful brutish language by immigration officials at the Sir Grantley Adams International Airport on her arrival.



She said they were attempting to get Myrie to agree that she was doing something illegal, like having drugs and had even threatened to have her jailed and twice made her bend over in order to carry out a cavity search.



Brown argued that there was no justification for the increasing level of intrusion that her client faced.



She said her client is still not certain what laws she breached which resulted in her being refused entry into a CARICOM country that had signed on to the 2007 declaration allowing for the free movement of people within the region.



As a result, Myrie wants the court to determine what is the minimum standard of treatment to be given to CARICOM nationals moving within the region under the Revised Treaty of Chaguaramas and its goal of hassle-free travel.



Myrie took the matter to the CCJ after the Jamaican and the Barbadian governments failed to reach an agreement on the issue.



She was granted leave by the Jamaican government to petition the court for it to hear the matter.