The grandmother of a Mercer University student who was arrested and jailed in the Cayman Islands for breaking coronavirus restrictions is calling on President Donald Trump to intervene, Fox News reports.
Cayman Islands officials say Skylar Mack, 18, violated local quarantine requirements after arriving last month, reportedly taking off her wristband monitor and leaving to watch her boyfriend compete in a jet ski competition.
"I was afforded the opportunity to enter the islands during these trying times, and I abused it," she said in a statement. "I am humbly asking for the forgiveness of the community."
Mack and her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, were both sentenced by an island judge to four months in prison, overturning a previous sentence of 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine for each of them.
"She's terrified. She called me last night, she couldn't sleep," Skylar Mack's grandmother, Jeanne Mack, told Fox News in an interview Monday, adding her granddaughter "knows she did wrong," characterizing her behavior as "a total lapse in judgment of an otherwise brilliant young lady."
The State Department confirmed to Fox News it is aware of the case, but said, "due to privacy considerations, we have no further comment."
Jeanne Mack told Fox that Cayman Islands officials "needed to make a statement. Their government is accusing her of causing major anxiety of everybody that was on the island, but it's because they're not telling them that she was negative — she does not have the virus; she never has had the virus."
Theodore Bunker ✉
Theodore Bunker, a Newsmax writer, has more than a decade covering news, media, and politics.
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