By AVA TURNQUEST
Tribune Chief Reporter
aturnquest@tribunemedia.net
LAST week, Jean Rony Jean-Charles was living a nightmare, trapped in abject poverty in a Haitian slum he defined as “hell”.
After a whirlwind 48-hours that ended in his unconditional release from the Carmichael Road Detention Centre yesterday, he told The Tribune he was “in heaven”.
“I don’t know right now,” he said, attempting to describe his feelings.
“It’s a new dream, I’m out, I’m free, I can’t believe it. Like it ain’t real, but it’s real, freedom.”
However, his road to freedom would not be an easy one, he said, as he detailed his challenging track through hillside slums to the northern city of Cap-Haitian on motorbike. It was a journey he told The Tribune that could only have been guided by God.
“I had to pay a motorbike, it took long we was riding ‘til morning and we started from 10pm. It was like when I ga reach, it was long riding over the hill, coming down the hill. I was saying when I ga reach, I almost fall asleep on the motorbike.
“We catch a flat, patch up the tube, then the oil pan came out the bike because it was so rough so we had to stick a piece of wood under the pan, and then we had to find oil, but everywhere was closed.
“The person that owned the bike he say he gonna check these gas stations and see if we can find a bottle of oil and we did find one. So we put the oil in the tank. God was with us, we put the oil in and we ride straight (to airport).”
When he arrived at the airport, he said he believed the worst of his challenges were behind him. He said he had no idea the government had requested a stay of the judge’s order granting his return.
“It feel great. Getting out of Haiti everything was fine. When I came to Nassau airport, (immigration) they start behaving stuck up. They went in the room, print the travel document and told me to sign it,” he said.
“I signed it, I see they taking so long I say something ain’t right. Then they called me, they told two guys ‘go that way,’ these other two go get the van and make sure the reporters don’t see me.”
He continued: “They say make sure the reporters don’t see you, so they rushing me, one hold me, just throw me in the van (and) speed off. I say man y’all kidnapping me where I going, they didn’t tell me at first, but then the fat man say you going the detention centre. I feel like I was kidnapped.
“I asked them if they kidnap me, if they gone go kill me,” he said.
In Nassau, Mr Jean-Charles was immediately stopped by immigration officers and detained for nearly two hours before he was taken to a bus and driven to the Carmichael Road Detention Centre (CRDC).
His attorney Crispin Hall Jr was present at the airport; however, Mr Hall Jr said he was not allowed to speak to Mr Jean-Charles and was told by immigration officials he would have to see him at the CRDC.
While this newspaper was waiting outside the airport for Mr Jean-Charles to be escorted out, immigration officers attempted to conceal his exit.
Upon seeing The Tribune, the officers began to run to a waiting bus with Mr Jean-Charles in tow.
Mr Jean-Charles said when he got to the CRDC, he was derided by immigration officers who seemed personally upset by his return.
“They was mad (at detention centre), the lady said ‘oh you’re a celebrity.’ I did feel miserable. I didn’t sleep, all I did was pray all night. The food they give me I didn’t want. I had just come off the plane I told the officers I didn’t sleep, I been riding all night.
“They miserable, they mad because I came back. The lady before I came to court was saying ‘oh you is a Haitian’ this and that, I told her I born here, but she say oh she been to Port au Prince before in Haiti, it ain’t like that. And I say ‘man you ain’t really been, the place I been, it rough.’
“She say ‘oh Haiti nice,’ I say ‘yeah some part nice, but some part ain’t right.’ Some part what nice is the people what get the money, the part where I was, them people ain’t got no money, they poor, they dry rice people.”
He added: “I tired. I glad to be home, that’s what I did want.”
Mr Jean-Charles’ case, and the outcome of the government’s appeal, was yesterday said to have significant ramifications on the fate of people born in the Bahamas to foreign parents who have failed to apply for citizenship as prescribed by the Constitution.
Mr Jean Charles did not apply for citizenship when he was between the age of 18 and 19, and was deported at age 34 after being held at the Carmichael Road Detention Centre for some three months.
He was re-arrested and taken to the centre having returned to the country on a court-ordered and state-issued travel document on Saturday; and yesterday released pending the government’s appeal.
In an interview with The Tribune shortly after his release from custody, Mr Jean-Charles explained he attempted the process of obtaining documents for his citizenship application but grew discouraged by the stalled pace.
“When I was gonna go do it, it takes so long so I just stop checking,” he said. “No I never went to (the Department of) Immigration. I started the process of getting the documents but it was taking so long I just stop worrying about it.
“I know I was born over here, went to school over here, so I stop worrying about it and I start hanging around other people and just stopped. I worked, I was doing security for a while because you need a National Insurance card to get paid, so I had to go get that.
“He (his former employer) held it, and by the time I asked him for it so I could go get the next card with the picture on it, he said he lost it, so I stop worrying about it.”
His deportation to Haiti on November 24 last year was his first time on board an airplane, and he would later spend his 35th birthday, on December 5, beset by cognitive dissonance over his circumstances.
Yesterday, when asked to respond to persons critical of his return, Mr Jean-Charles said: “I don’t know what to say. I don’t know what to say to that. I’m in heaven.”
Comments
TalRussell 6 years, 1 month ago
Ma Comrade AG Carl Wilshire, y’all red state man's at airport acted likes kidnappers would've acted. Is this way uphold and protect all individuals constitutional rights? What happened to my permission to freely travel into the Bahamaland under official government's travel document?
DonAnthony 6 years, 1 month ago
Then they called me, they told two guys ‘go that way,’ these other two go get the van and make sure the reporters don’t see me.”
What does the government have to hide? Why try to hide from the press? Whatever you think about the merits of this case, it is troubling the way the government handled the process. Being secretive and denying this man due process. We are such an immature democracy it is not funny, and any Bahamian who has faith in receiving due process from this government needs his head examined.
ThisIsOurs 6 years, 1 month ago
"asked them if they kidnap me, if they gone go kill me,” he said."
This man needs to speak to a psychiatrist. This is enough to send anybody crazy just like he say. Can you imagine thinking no one knows where they're taking you and you could end up dead? While I want this illegal immigration under control, this is no way to treat anybody. But for a few miles the Hsitian people could be our long lost cousins...could be...they probably are.
TalRussell 6 years, 1 month ago
Ma Comrade, give him closer shave and apply some skin colour lightener and just might pass distant cousin Comrade "Rutherford" alias John?
jamaicaproud 6 years, 1 month ago
I respect that. Maybe he is a fraud, maybe he will be sent away. Who knows. The main issue is civil servants should not take personal positions, but follow the law and treat people with respect.
stillwaters 6 years, 1 month ago
Totally agree.
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