Georgia teen jailed for breaking Cayman Islands quarantine rules to watch her boyfriend compete in a jet-skiing competition has her four-month prison sentence slashed in HALF
An American college student jailed in the Cayman Islands for violating the territory's strict quarantine rules has had her prison sentence slashed in half.
Skylar Mack, 18, was ordered to serve four months behind bars after she skipped out on a mandatory 14-day quarantine to watch her boyfriend compete in a jet-skiing competition.
On Tuesday, a week after her initial sentence was handed down, the Cayman Islands Court of Appeals reduced her sentence to two months.
Mack's boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, was also initially jailed for four months after he picked the teen up from her accommodation, effectively aiding in her violation of quarantine rules officials had put in place amid the coronavirus pandemic.
Ramgeet's sentence has similarly been halved by the Court of Appeals, The Washington Post reports.
Mack's lawyer's told the publication that they were hoping the youngster's sentence would be slashed further.
'Whilst it was our hope that Skylar would be able to return home to resume her studies in January, we accept the decision of the Court and look forward to receiving its written reasons in due course,' Samson Law Associates said in a statement.
Skylar Mack, 18, was jailed in the Cayman Islands for violating the territory's strict quarantine rule. She has now had her four-month prison sentence slashed in half
Mack skipped out on a mandatory 14-day quarantine to watch her boyfriend, Vanjae Ramgeet, 24, compete in a jet-skiing competition
Mack arrived in the Cayman Islands on November 27 and was supposed to quarantine for 14 days. However, the teen isolated for just two days before she took a COVID-19 test.
The results returned negative before she abandoned her tracking device and left isolation.
Mack and Ramgeet were the first to be handed down the penalty for breaking isolation on the small British territory in the Caribbean.
The island set strict rules in place to curb the spread of COVID-19 and has reported 311 confirmed cases and two deaths since the start of the pandemic. The island is home to about 64,000 residents.
Just one day before the couple went to the jet ski event the government changed its penalties for violating isolation from up to a year in jail and/or a fine of $1,000 to a sentence of up to two years in jail and/or a fine of up to $10,000.
Mack, pictured in handcuffs, was initially sentenced to four months in jail
'It's not like her to make this kind of a mistake. She knows she screwed up. She knows she should have to pay for it,' her grandmother, Jeanne Mack, told The Today Show earlier this week.
At first Mack and Ramgeet were initially sentenced to 40 hours of community service and a $2,600 fine after pleading guilty to violating the isolation period, but a prosecutor argued that the punishment was too lenient.
Judge Roger Chapple said in their December 15 sentencing that the couple broke quarantine rules due to their 'selfishness and arrogance.'
At the event Mack wore no mask and did not practice social distancing for the seven hours she was there, police said to the Cayman Compass.
Prior to the Appeal Court's decision, Mack's grandmother pleaded with President Trump to intervene.
'She just wants to come home. She knows she made a mistake, she owns up to that, but she’s pretty hysterical right now,' she told The Today Show, added that the family had penned a letter to President Trump.
At the event Mack wore no mask and did not practice social distancing for the seven hours she was there, police said to the Cayman Compass