Nassau, BAHAMAS – An illegal immigrant is accused of stealing a Bahamian woman’s identity when she lost her National Insurance Board (NIB) smart card and marrying a Haitian.
Police arrested Jamaican national Marlene Stephens, 43, on March 11 when she tried to renew the NIB smart card in the name of Lakera Poitier.
Staff at NIB called cops because the photo on the NIB smart card didn’t match the one in their database.
Prosecutors allege that Stephens stole Lakera Rolle’s identity and then changed her surname to Poitier by deed poll.
Then, Stephen allegedly fraudulently obtained Bahamian passport and a voter’s card while pretending to be Lakera Poitier. Police seized those false documents when they arrested Stephens.
They also discovered that she deceived a marriage officer when she married Haitian citizen Frantz Saint-Louis under the assumed name of Lakera Poitier in September 2018.
Stephens denied eight counts of possession of a false document, five counts of fraud by false pretences, deceit of a public officer and making a false declaration of marriage at her arraignment on March 17 before Magistrate Samuel McKinney.
The magistrate refused bail because he doesn’t have the jurisdiction to consider bail for the offences. However, he advised her of the right to apply for pre-trial release in the Supreme Court.
Stephens came to the country as a visitor but overstayed her visa by more than a decade.
Attorney Bernard Ferguson represents Stephens. She makes her next court appearance on May 14 for the start of her trial.
Inspector Philip Davis prosecuted.
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