“Love Island” star and former Miss Britain Zara Holland was fined about $ 6,000 (but saved a prison sentence) for trying to leave Barbados with her boyfriend after testing positive for coronavirus. , according to reports.
Holland, 25, pleaded guilty to breaching a COVID-19 directive by leaving the Sugar Bay Barbados resort, where he was awaiting test results, The Sun reported.
She and her friend, Elliott Love, were caught trying to board a plane to the UK to avoid being taken to a quarantine facility.
Holland and Love were tested when they arrived on the island on December 27 and were ordered to isolate themselves in their hotel room to await the results. When their result turned positive, they were given red bracelets and told they would be taken to a quarantine center.
Holland, who faced the slammer for up to a year, was warned by Magistrate Ian Weekes that she would be jailed for nine months if she failed to pay the fine within a week, the Daily Mail reported.
After the hearing, his attorney Andrew Pilgrim blamed his “lapse” in the trial of a “stupid mistake,” according to the media.
She said she had received two negative test results before arriving on the island, but that after Love tested positive, she became very nervous when they were told to do forty at the hotel.
This led to the “foolish” decision of the lovers to try to leave, he explained, adding that the Netherlands had the utmost respect for the people of Barbados and had been visiting the Caribbean getaway twice a year for the last six years.
The magistrate replied: “You cannot operate on the belief that you are in charge and you can do as you please.
“Even if you get negative test results, it’s vital that you understand that they have to give you permission,” Weekes added.
Pilgrim filed a financial statement in court showing that his client had the ability to pay the fine, but said he could not pay it immediately as a UK bank transfer had not yet been settled in Barbados, according to the Daily Mail.
Holland, who breathed a sigh of relief at not being imprisoned, was released on bail set at £ 7,355, about $ 10,000, and will be free to leave the island once the fine is paid.
“We accept the court’s decision. Miss Holland wishes to express her sincere apologies to the entire nation of Barbados. We have no further comment at this time, “his lawyer said outside the court.
Many people reacted to the Dutch sentence like a slap on the wrist and compared her sentence to a Jamaican tourist jailed for six months for breaking the island’s rules for “buying Fanta” and snacking a month ago, she reported The Sun.