Case against immigration deputy drags on

Jeannie Lewis

(CNS): The deputy chief immigration officer remains on paid leave this week after an application to have charges against her thrown out failed. Jeannie Lewis has been charged for permitting drugs to be used at her house and knowingly assisting an illegal immigrant, having been swept up in an early morning police operation at her home in Savannah and arrested in August 2016. She was suspended from her top immigration job as a result but she has consistently denied the allegations and has been locked in legal wrangling since. She will now face trial in June.

The application to have the proceedings stopped was based on a number of issues, including disclosure problems and the deportation of the main protagonist, Antonio Bullard, an illegally landed Bahamian, before he was charged, which her attorney has argued prevents Lewis from getting a fair trial.

The magistrate, however, disagreed and has ordered the case to proceed to trial.

Lewis’ sons and Bullard, who was staying with the young men, have all stated to police that Lewis was completely unaware of the illegal guest or the drugs found in the bedrooms, but the crown has persisted with the case.

One of her sons was charged over a firearm that was found at the house during the raid, but he was acquitted when it became increasingly apparent at the trial that the weapon likely belonged to the illegal immigrant. However, Bullard was not investigated in relation to the gun but instead deported after a matter of days and before DNA results pointing to his guilt were available.