Venezuelan woman fined, deported for overstaying

Twenty-one-year-old Vildalva Boniella, who on Wednesday reappeared before Chief Magistrate Ann McLennan, was fined and deported after she pleaded guilty to an immigration charge brought against her.
The Spanish-speaking woman previously appeared at the Georgetown Magistrates’ Courts on January 28, to answer to a charge which alleged that between January 1 and January 28, 2017, at Iteringbang, Region Seven (Cuyuni-Mazaruni), she entered the country by sea and disembarked without presenting herself to immigration officials.
She was subsequently picked up by Police officials on patrol at Linden, Region 10 (Upper Demerara-Berbice) and thereafter arrested and charged with the offence.
Defence Council for the woman on Wednesday in plea of mitigation told the court that his client, who has two small children, came to Guyana in hopes of securing employment to support her family due to the ongoing Venezuelan crisis.
The Chief Magistrate fined Boniella $15,000 and she will be escorted as soon as possible to the nearest port of exit.