Justice Kathleen Williams has refused the motion filed by former Premier Andrew Fahie’s attorney, Theresa Van Vliet, who sought relief on Fahie’s bond conditions to allow his daughters to visit the BVI to attend the funeral of a close relative.
Fahie, who is facing charges of drug smuggling and money laundering and has a trial scheduled for July 17, is currently restricted to the small two-bedroom apartment of his two daughters who attend school in Florida. The two sisters surrendered their passports and have limited movement in order to secure their father’s pretrial liberty.
Fahie’s attorney filed the motion on May 4, noting that the prosecution did not oppose her client’s request to vary his bail conditions to allow his daughters to travel. However, the motion was swiftly refused the following day through a paperless court order signed by Justice Williams.
According to the motion filed by Van Vliet, the court was being petitioned to modify
Fahie’s bond conditions for the limited purpose of permitting his two daughters to travel to the British Virgin Islands for the celebration of life of their maternal grandfather.
Van Vliet noted that, in accordance with the travel restrictions of
Fahie’s Bond Order,
Fahie’s daughters surrendered both their United States and BVI passports to Pretrial Services and have not traveled overseas since. She told the court that the daughters would have traveled to the BVI for the funeral service on May 27 and would not have remained in the territory past one week if approval had been granted.
Fahie’s daughters were also expected to spend some time with their mother if they had been approved.
Fahie’s latest motion comes days after a new Assistant US Attorney, Kevin Gerarde, was assigned to his case and weeks after a previously granted motion to modify his bond conditions gave him the ability to travel to his attorney’s office and have more frequent dental visits.