CHRIST CHURCH, Barbados —Visitors and Barbadians returning home have been put on notice that they will pay a hefty price for breaching the island’s COVID-19 protocols, especially quarantine directives, if they are found guilty in the law courts.

Chief Magistrate Ian Weekes issued that clear warning yesterday as he sentenced Jamaican visitor Dean George Scott to six months in prison for leaving his quarantine centre to purchase “Fanta and other stuff” at a shop, Barbados Today reported.

“I got to send a message to you and to all the other people that this cannot be tolerated… We have made too much gain, so you have to do six months… Walking out of quarantine no man, this cannot be allowed,” the senior judicial officer said.

Scott, a 49-year-old mason who was staying at a hotel in Worthing, Christ Church, had moments before pleaded guilty to contravening Paragraph 14 of the Emergency Management (COVID-19) Curfew (No 4) Directive 2020. It was alleged that being a person in quarantine at the St Lucy District Hospital, he did leave the premises without reasonable explanation.

In his defence, the Jamaican explained that he had arrived in the country on December 6 and was taken to the hospital.

“I went on the road to get some juice and some stuff on the 7th. They never told me I should not have gone on the road. I got a Fanta,” he said.

Asked whether he had not been fed at the quarantine centre, the first-time visitor disclosed that he had asked for something to drink earlier in the morning and was told that he should wait.

“This is a crazy situation, you knew why you were there,” the chief magistrate stated.

“I understand that we are not accustomed to quarantine and all of that… We have to make adjustments… We are going to be wearing these masks till 2022 at least… so get it in our DNA. It is about survival. I need to send a strong message because there is no good reason for you to be doing this. You had a craving and you acted on your craving,” the magistrate lamented before asking Scott whether he was in a position to pay a fine.

He responded that he was not and asked for leniency, Barbados Today reported.

But Weekes made it clear that “this foolishness” would not be “condoned” by the court.

“You are getting six months… so all the others from out of the country will understand that I cannot condone this kind of behaviour…. Walking out of quarantine; no man, this cannot be allowed, and especially for the flimsy reason that you used. That is not a proper reason; a craving? Foolishness!”