A woman who admitted to trying to travel to Abaco on a forged COVID-19 test result was on Friday sentenced to six months in prison.
Jasmine Pyfrom, 21, of Matthew Town, Inagua, pleaded guilty to possession of a forged document and uttering a forged document at her arraignment before Senior Magistrate Carolyn Vogt-Evans.
Police arrested Pyfrom on April 7 at Lynden Pindling International Airport after she presented the fake negative test result to a COVID-19 ambassador, the prosecutor Sergeant 2649 Rondisha Smith told the court.
The ambassador compared the electronic result in Pyfrom’s iPhone XR to an authentic one and determined it was fraudulent.
An official from Doctors Hospital’s digital forensic investigation unit also confirmed the test was fake, Smith said.
In her interview with police, Pyfrom admitted that she did not take an RT-PCR test to travel. She said that her father had sent her the negative test digitally. However, Pyfrom said she had previously taken a COVID-19 result for work, but the result of the test had expired.
Pyfrom had no prior convictions and has a two-year-old daughter.
In sentencing, Vogt-Evans also took into consideration Pyfrom’s lack of remorse, the seriousness of the offense and the possible effect.
Police on Sunday warned the public against obtaining fake COVID-19 tests.
The statement said, “We urge you to take this warning seriously to avoid prosecution and to help keep you, your family and the wider community healthy.”
