The British press has been rife with news that reality TV star Zara Holland had attempted to flee Barbados despite being told to isolate at her hotel following a COVID-19 test two days earlier.
Holland had been ordered by Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes to pay a $12,000 BDS (£4,415) fine in seven days after she pleaded guilty to breaching COVID-19 Directive No.4 by leaving the hotel where she was staying pending the results of her COVID-19 test without a reasonable explanation. Failure to paying the fine would result in her spending the next nine months in prison.
Holland, 26, who has since paid the fine and is back on British soil, arrived in Barbados on 27 December with her boyfriend Elliott Love, who according to local media had tested positive for COVID-19 and is still on the island in isolation.
Fresh reports from Barbados indicate that two other British nationals have been fined for breaching COVID-19 protocols.
The two were fined $6 000 each on Thursday, January 7, 2021 for breaching the island’s COVID-19 laws.
Andrew Luker and Julia Knightley appeared before Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes in the District ‘D’ Magistrates’ Court this morning and pleaded guilty to inviting a woman to the hotel premises without permission, a clear violation of Paragraph (15) of the Emergency Management (COVID-19) Curfew (NO 4) Directive.
The two, who are out on $20 000 bail, must pay the fines within seven days or face nine months in prison.