The BVI Governor’s Office headed by John Duncan has listed the improved speed of deportations among its accomplishments, adding that 10 persons were deported from the British Virgin Islands last year including one Vincentian.
Other nationalities who were sent from the territory included a Haitian, a Dominican, US Virgin Islands resident, a Guyanese, and a national of Curacao.
“The case of Vincentian Mark De Freitas, for whom a deportation order was issued in June 2014, was concluded on 19th May 2015 when Justice Vicki Ann Ellis handed a decision in the case… Mr. Defreitas left the territory on the same date,” the report further said.
The court had found that Mark De Freitas who served 10 years imprisonment in St Vincent for manslaughter had deceived authorities in the British Virgin Islands (BVI), thereby being allowed to enter and then remain in the territory for seven years.
Upon his entry into the BVI, the St Vincent native also deceitfully presented documents in a new name, purporting that he had absolutely no previous conviction.
He lost his legal battle against a deportation order made in 2014 by then governor Boyd McCleary.
Under Section 40 of the Immigration and Passport Ordinance in the BVI, the Governor can issue a deportation order to a non-Belonger who has been convicted of an offence in the Territory that is punishable with imprisonment for three months or more.
