Sentence reduced for Georgia woman who broke COVID quarantine in Cayman Islands

ATLANTA (WSB) -- A judge in the Cayman Islands has reduced the sentence for a Gwinnett County 18-year-old and her boyfriend who broke the island's COVID-19 quarantine rules.

Skylar Mack and her boyfriend Vanjae Ramgeet will now serve two months in jail instead of four months, according to an appeals court ruling Tuesday.

Skylar Mack traveled to the Cayman Islands in the Caribbean Sea on Nov. 27, and was required to quarantine for 14 days. According to officials, just two days and a negative COVID-19 test later, she allegedly removed her wrist monitor and left quarantine to watch her boyfriend compete in a Jet Ski race.

The couple was said to have interacted with others for more than seven hours without masks, forcing other families at that event to later quarantine. Both Mack and Ramgeet, who was charged with aiding and abetting, were detained, and they both pleaded guilty.

They were initially ordered to pay a fine and serve 40 hours of community service, but prosecutors appealed, calling the ruling too lenient. A higher court agreed, sentencing Mack to four months in prison. Judge Roger Chapple said that the decision to violate safety measures was born of “selfishness and arrogance.”

• TRUE CRIME DAILY: Coronavirus-related crime coverage - TCD

The country has reported 316 cases and two deaths since the start of the pandemic, according to the government's COVID-19 tracker website, the Atlanta Journal-Constitution reports.