The Tribune

By DENISE MAYCOCK Tribune Freeport Reporter dmaycock@tribunemedia.net FREEPORT - A Haitian man was convicted and sentenced to serve two years in prison for overstaying his time in the Bahamas following an arraignment in the Freeport Magistrate's Court. Jackson Saintil appeared before Magistrate Andrew Forbes in Court Two on Wednesday. A translator read the charge in Creole to Saintil, who does not speak English. Saintil told Magistrate Forbes that he first came to the Bahamas illegally in 2000. At that time, he said, his boss told him to return to Haiti. He said he waited on a call asking him to return to the Bahamas, but his boss never called back. Saintil said he again entered the country without the permission of the Department of Immigration in June 2011. Magistrate Forbes told Saintil that by his own admission he had entered the country illegally. He told the accused that he was also charged and found guilty of overstaying his time in the Bahamas. Mr Forbes sentenced Saintil to pay a fine of $3,000 or spend two years in prison for overstaying his time. Saintil was unable to pay the fine and was sentenced to two years.