Nassau-A magistrate fined a man $400 for defying a travel ban imposed by the national curfew.
Police arrested Dion Miller, 35, at Jaws Beach around 1:30pm on May 8.
Despite a ban on inter-island travel to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Miller traveled from North Andros to New Providence on a Boston Whaler.
Miller, who is originally from Freeport, Grand Bahama, said that he needed medical treatment for an injured leg.
Miller pleaded guilty to breaking the curfew at his arraignment before Deputy Chief Magistrate Andrew Forbes.
He said assumed the restrictions only applied to international travel.
Nevertheless, Miller claimed that staff at the island’s clinic wrote letters seeking approval for his trip.
After he got no response, Miller still took the trip.
The magistrate told Miller that he had made a “perilous journey across the Tongue of the Ocean in a small boat.”
Had the boat capsized, Forbes said Miller would have had a bigger problem than his injured leg.
Forbes told Miller he should have contacted one of the island’s administrators to confirm whether it was “feasible to travel”.
He told Miller his decision to break the curfew was an expensive one. He ordered Miller to pay a $400 fine to avoid three months in prison.
Earlier this month, Prime Minister Dr Hubert Minnis eased coronavirus travel restrictions on Ragged Island, Rum Cay, Mayaguana, Inagua, Crooked Island, Acklins and Long Cay. At the time, he said New Providence residents on those islands could return to the capital.
Curfew violators face a maximum of 18 months in prison and fined up to $10,000.
