45-year-old businessman Alexis Perez from Puerto Rico, left, and 35-year-old Chelsea Mutyaba from Uganda, East Africa, right, at the Magistrate's Court on March 10, 2020. Photo: VINO

The men, 44-year-old businessman Alexis Perez from Puerto Rico and 35-year-old Chelsea Mutyaba from Uganda, East Africa, were caught on March 6 and 5, 2020 respectively.

Mutyaba previously pleaded guilty to the offence of smuggling and failing to declare monies to customs while Perez pleaded guilty to his sole offence of failing to declare monies to customs when he appeared before the court on Thursday, March 19, 2020.

Mutyaba

The Prosecution said Mutyaba had smuggled $23,241 in his clothes and shoes and did not declare the money to the authorities.

When he appeared before Senior Magistrate Tamia N. Richards yesterday, March 19, 2020, Senior Prosecutor Tamara Foster said she had an issue with the lack of medical form presented by the defendant to the court.

When Mutyaba made his maiden appearance before the Magistrate’s Court, he revealed he had cancer.

He said, despite living and working in Uganda, East Africa, he was troubled about his health condition and sought leave from his family-run business.

He said he was with his girlfriend and young child in Grenada before he decided to visit the [British] Virgin Islands for vacation and to seek out a viable business opportunity.

The court would usually hand down its sentence at the next court appearance following a guilty plea; however, the lack of medical documentation was a hindrance as the offence of smuggling could attract a custodial sentence.

He was then instructed to make an attempt to acquire the documents before his next appearance before the court on Tuesday, March 24, 2020.

Perez

Perez, who was held with $39,800 on March 6, 2020, pleaded guilty to the offence of failing to declare monies to customs.

His legal representative; however, said, his client was unable to complete the Immigration and Customs Declaration Form because it was only written in English.

He said it was because of this; his client had to depend on an airport employee who could not communicate with him to complete the form on his behalf by using his travel documents and failed to ask him if he was carrying large sums of cash.

He then pleaded to the court to consider granting Perez leniency also because of his chronic health situation when handing down his sentencing.

Hearing the explanation from Perez’s attorney, Senior Magistrate Richards said she had a problem with his guilty plea and would need to ponder whether she should accept it by Tuesday when the matter will be recalled.

The court heard that attempts to locate the airport employee who assisted the defendant were futile.