Nigerian charged with falsifying documents out on bail

A Nigerian man has been granted  $5,000 cash bail with two sureties after being charged for overstaying and falsifying a permit under the passport act.

Isaac Awak, who appeared before Chief Magistrate Evelina Baptiste today. pleaded guilty to overstaying, and not guilty to the second charge.

According to the first charge, Awak arrived on the island on December 11, 2009 through the Melville Hall airport and was permitted to remain here for three weeks but failed to leave before the expiration of the permit. He also failed to present himself to the immigration department for an extension of stay.

According to the second charge, the defendant falsified a permit granted to him by the immigration department by changing the number of weeks he was allowed to stay in Dominica from three (3) to a thirteen (13).

In mitigation, Awak told the court that he was not flight risk and had just gotten a job at a seven-eleven minimart where he was told that he had the potential to obtain a work permit.

When asked why he did not renew his permit, Awak said that a Haitian friend had told him that if he did not know anyone at the immigration office he would not be granted additional stay.

Meanwhile, the police prosecutor countered Awak’s mitigation stating, “I’m still of the view that he is a flight risk…”

He listed some of the other reasons that he believed the defendant should not be granted bail.

“He was given time, he overstayed, and having him come here is a matter which is costly to the court…” the prosecutor noted.

Awak was bailed until January 28, 2010 when he will return to court for a trial on the matter.

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41 Comments

  1. Carib
    November 30, 2012

    I am a proud Dominican pure Carib… But I have travelled the world and respect any immigrant trying to better the self.

    But this Nigerian is serious business; it is a well known fact that many Nigerians are the most notorious criminals. I know a Dominican woman who was paid to marry a Nigerian, so that he could stay in England. And he only visits this lady once a month, while he cavorting all over England for young women. It is sad.

    It is high time Dominicans woke up with all these immigrants entering our beautiful island. If Dominicans ain’t careful; it will soon be too late when all these immigrants start running the island.

    From experience, Black Dominicans have a tendency to be lenient on other nationalities more than themselves. Where is the pride?!

    Wake up Dominicans.

  2. January 25, 2012

    I wonder if his Passport, is genuine :-| :-| :-|

  3. black Queen
    April 5, 2011

    Everyone in life deserve a second chance, but dishoesty never pays. Always try your best to do your best.

  4. madmanx
    April 9, 2010

    AS A NIGERIAN,…..I BELIEVE THAT FELLOW SHOULD BE IMPRISONED FOR LIKE SIX MONTHS WITH HARD LABOUR THEN PLACED IN A BASKET WITH A LOAF OF BREAD,AND DUMPED INTO THE OCEAN…….IF HE CAN SWIM,FINE…..IF NOT GOOD RIDDANCE….WE NEED LESS OF HIS KIND IN NIGERIA

  5. syborg55
    February 9, 2010

    Nigerians are single handedly responsible for 90% of the PHONY British Lottery Scam on the internet…They are 65% responsible for the other Scams,pretending to be women asking for financial help etc.etc. These people in majority are SCAM artists,and it’s only a matter of time before he rip off who ever hired him…Get rid of that so called Mother Lander,ship him in a pine basket all I care…JUST GET THAT MOTHER@#(*^&% OUT OF OUR COUNTRY!!!

  6. THE ADJUDICATOR
    January 25, 2010

    Nigerian are bad news,Its is very fraudulant what this person have concocked a srcured document for his illegal gains. In hindsight, he should have not been encourage to stay at all following this deception.

    Lets me more contructive and less symphathetic and send this man packing back to Nigeria in a flash before he expose the whole of this small commonwealth state to a dire fraudulant heist.

    If it had been a Dominican in Nigeria– do you think he would have been given that level of security ?? Oh no.He would most definitely imprisoned for life with no return.

    Be positive and do the right thing and let others see the power of the law.

    Regards

    The lawmaker

  7. to yoyo crew london
    January 25, 2010

    you sound so silly because it seems like you didn’t know living in another country illegally is a crime. well it is, and try spelling (caught) this way insted of (cut)

    you Idiot

  8. memoire poul
    January 25, 2010

    how does a foreigner get a job in da without a work permit? ms Baptiste, here is your opportunity to begin to put the country on the right track. wonder what magistrate douglas would do…deport the man

  9. memoire poul
    January 25, 2010

    i think the 711 ,social security,labor dept. should all be charged.hello mr weeks….any ideas?

  10. Mac
    January 24, 2010

    When I tell people how generally crooked Nigerians are and fraudulent they are with documents, people say that I am overstating the facts. Here is another case for my argument.

  11. January 24, 2010

    The court should have charge the Nigerian for document fraud, and let him pay his one way ticket back home, no need for flight risk, he wants to stay already.

    These guys are so scamed, always sending emails of how much millions of dollars they will be sending me to my Bank Account, and give me 10% of it ,if
    I agree. Not all thats bad, but most are noted for scams.

  12. January 23, 2010

    Nigerians are the worst crooks you can come across so the best thing for them to do right now is to deport that sucker.
    I have no when pity it comes to these people. They have no regards for the law.
    They will even make it known on television to anyone who will listen.
    In my book they are all a bunch of crooks.
    The people who hired him should be taking a look now at their business accounts to see if there is anything left in there.

    Most of these Nigerians are interlects. The majority of them are business majors.
    They do not use these God given talents for the betterment of their country or for the less fortunate people on the African continent, they use it for the sole purpose of scamming people. Since we our people are so intuned with what’s going on in the US, they should be aware of all the fraud and scams these people are involved in.
    DOMINICANS THIS IS NOT A MATTER TO BE TAKEN LIGHTLTY.
    Only God knows what he’s been involved with during his short stay.

  13. annie
    January 23, 2010

    Beware of these Nigerians!! Some of them know all the scams and tricks to get what they want. If the judge is gullible enough to believe this man, that his Haitian friend told him something, I will tell the judge I have land in the ocean to sell to her. These Nigerians even tried to scam me, but I am much smarter than them.

    This man violated the immigration laws by (1) changing the time permitted to remain in the country in his passport; (2) working illegally without a permit. The owner of the minimart should be fined for hiring an illegal person to work without a permit.

    I was born in Dominica and whenever I visit I am asked how long I am here for, and my passport is stamped “no work permitted” This man should not get any preferential treatment. He violated the immigration laws and he should be sent back to whatever country he came from. I also think a criminal background check should be done on him. They are tricky people.

  14. DOMINICA'S HOME GROWN
    January 23, 2010

    Immigration and border laws are put in place by countries all over the for a reason and that is for them to be adhered and complied and when that has been taken advantage of and abused one should face the full consequences and be dealth with accordingly.

    It does puzzle me how a visitor portraying ‘bona fide’ tourist, is given employment by a local business owner, bearing in mind that as a visitor, one is not allowed to take up any gainful employment as that is illegal and can and shuld lead to instant ‘deportation’ for breaking the countries’ immigration laws, not to mention allegedly fraudulently tampering with a countries immigration documents.

    I don’t even know why the authourities are wasting time and tax payers funds to take this to court, as once someone like this is comes to notice, they should be ‘deported’ by to their native country ASAP as they broke he law of the land which is not negotiable or up for discussion..

    Lessons to be learned are for the immigration & border control department in DA to be more vigilant and ensure that immigration laws when dealing with visitors and any other commuter for that matter to the island.

    That said, the paranoia and hysteria that was exhibited by this ‘possie in new york’ writer was a bit much to say the least. In rebutal to what you said, Haitians are our brothers and sisters and just as there are ‘good’ and ‘bad’ Dominicans, around the world, the same applies with Haitians or otherwise as well, so that really has nothing to do with DA enforcing their immigration & borders laws efficiently as they ought to aspire to do.

    Less we forget, as so many Dominicans often seem to engage in castigating Haitians ‘good’ and ‘bad’, just like so many Dominicans who are all over the world who visit people’s countries with the sole purpose of ‘OVERSTAYING’ which they do and work illegally as well, even some of those writing on here, we need to speak contructively and not necessarily getting on our high horse and being negative and venormous just for the sake of it..

    LET HE THAT HAVE SINNED CAST THE 1ST STONE!

  15. Anonymous
    January 23, 2010

    i get so mad when i hear dominicans justify someone breaking the law by saying that we dominicans go to other people country and overstay. yes we do but if we are cought we are delt with the full extent of that countrys law. therefore someone breaking our laws should also be delt with accordingly. can someone please explain to me why is it that a nigerian or anyone else can come to da and start working while our people cant get work. that 711 minimart should be fined. finally i recomend that before any business in da employ any outsiders they should make the job available to da people first, they should have to prove to the proper gov”t agency why a dominican was denied that job. an outsider should only be employed in da for jobs that my people cant perform. try going to the BVI and overstay and see what happen to you. i lived in the BVI many years ago and and i recall three folks from dominica entering the BVI legally from da on LIAT however because the immigration officer felt that they might either stay in tortola or move to the USVI, he denied them entry. thats not all since there were no more flights leaving tortola for da that same day, they had to spend the night in prison. again these were people who broke no laws yet they were imprisoned. why are we giving out work permit when the mases of our people are unemployed. anyone who puts in an application for a work permit to work for any business in da, that business better tell us why that job is not being filled by a native son or doughter.

  16. guadaman
    January 23, 2010

    well though i do sympathise with this man,i dont believe he should be allowed to get away with that,falsifying documents,is very dangerous,and if he got away with it,who knows what he would have tried next, guadeloupe has a good amount of them and to speak the truth based on what i know of them i feel very scared,and i dont trust them a bit ,the judge should do her job without favour.

  17. Anonymous
    January 23, 2010

    Yes, this Nigerian man falsified his papers, which was wrong; he should’ve gone the proper route to process his application. However, stating that Nigeria is a society which is rife with corruption and bribery, some of you all need to look at Dominica and what has happened within the past year and what has happened in the past.
    I may be cryptic in this message, but all I will say is December 18th 2009. Work it out yourselves…

  18. Bra
    January 23, 2010

    All where the word Nigerians is mentioned, replace it with those blacks, Dominicans, Haitians Americans, etc. You get the drift. All Nigerians are not crocks. So many of us had to leave DA for all kind of reasons. Most of us are decent. However, there are also “crock Boweek” in DA and the Diaspora.

    Treat the Nigerian as an individual and leave the bias and prejudice out of the equation.

    • December 14, 2012

      Some of this people has done worst that the Nigerians themselves…And they are there opening their stupid mouth and closing it.

  19. Mahaut People
    January 22, 2010

    Immigration department , do your job. If i was caught in st. martin/ maarteen doing that my fate would be JAIL and DEPORTATION. To the honourable magistrate i beg you to implement the law to the fullest. WE need more immigration officers with better training and better equipment.

  20. January 22, 2010

    let him stay, his not a threat to anyone. lots of dominicans overseas without papers.he working and behaving himself. charge him for changing the documents that’s it.

  21. freddie krugger
    January 22, 2010

    LET HIM STAY! ALLU KNOW HOW MUCH DOMINICANS LIVING OVERSEAS WITHOUT PAPAERS?

  22. January 22, 2010

    The Nigerian said that a Haitian friend told him that if he does not know any one in Immigration he will not get more time. He was given three weeks to stay on the Isalnd and he is already working at a Seven Eleven. Does he has the proper documents to work. They are like the Haitians give them an inch they take a foot.
    Dominicans are crying that Dominica is hard with no work but the Haitains are coming through the back door, Nigerians are overstaying and committing fraud to stay on an Island that do not have anything to support the populace as the critics have claimed.
    Send him back to his country, he should have a return ticket for they know how to hack into people’s email and solicit money. Dominica will soon be the back door for Nigerians, Hatians, Santo Domingoes and soon Mexicans and others and then you all will claim they are our brothers and siters. There will be an out burst of crime on the Island. Crime is not only killing. Immigration do take a stand on all the over stayers. Quadeloupe and St. Marteen did that to Dominicans some years ago

  23. teddle cat
    January 22, 2010

    Hmm African; well Dominica does not need that; scammers even their own ppl afraid of them. They know all the tricks in the book! mr. never thought he could get caught so he try a thing and more so they should find out about teh haitian helping out with this fraud.

  24. medler
    January 22, 2010

    Forward Thinking! you are right; I live in the US and these nigerians they know all the in and out of falsifying documents; they can take ur house and claim it and have ppl paying them application fee for it. It happened; They are in africa and claiming they have property in the US and ask you to send money for them.
    They change grades in college, they changing age on birth paper, they claiming ppls wife to get green card. This is not a joke this ppl are on top of things and if given a chance Dominicans are going to get scammed right in their backyards.
    Send this man back to where he belong. There are some good ones ofcourse but as long as he can change the date on immigration paper; he can do more and worse than that. That was a trial that did not work so don’t give him another chance. we will regret it.

  25. steve
    January 22, 2010

    The laws in Dominica and this case is a JOKE. one of the charges is enough reason for bail to be denied. The prosecutor should point out that the man is working without proper documentation. The Qyestion should be why is in he Dominica did he lost his way from Nigeria? Is he a criminal who ran away from Nigeria? Why Dominica?

  26. Dominican
    January 22, 2010

    eh bien somebody want to stay in dominica, give de man a work permit.

  27. Irie
    January 22, 2010

    Aye! My friend, you love Dominica-O…..you are comitting fraud to remain in that country-O, Heh! And Dominicans are refusing to stay there…this is something O….Heh! …….Behave yourself before I change my mind…

  28. Chica
    January 22, 2010

    @ D/can to the bone, you are absolutely right.

  29. Me
    January 22, 2010

    I want to see what charges this magistrate going to give this nigerian. I want to know if is on emotions she is going with. I’m listening.

  30. just a thought
    January 22, 2010

    it will cost more to deport the man than to give the man a work permit geez cut someone a slack.

  31. just a thought
    January 22, 2010

    I was about to say the same thing, haitians, dominican republic, st lucian people rushing dominica and we dominicans (like myself) overseas in other people place geez I shame.

  32. CB CUZ
    January 22, 2010

    Please your honor, give the nigerian a chance..Because how come a nigerian can come to dominica in december and already have a job and those LAZY CASTLE BRUCE GIRLS CANNOT FIND WORK TO DO? So please let the nigerian stay and send him to Castle Bruce and lecture those LAZY GIRLS on how to find a job instead of begging everybody…WHO VEZ BOO BOO

  33. chemist
    January 22, 2010

    and i quote ” Meanwhile, the police prosecutor countered Awak’s mitigation stating, “I’m still of the view that he is a flight risk…”
    AND???? ….yow this is funny HAHAHAHA…..The man is in court for overstaying…so what if he is at flight…don’t we want him to leave??? So we want to keep him in jail until the trial date for OVERSTAYING but still we have countless murderers, attempted murderers, drug traffickers etc roaming the streets… STUPESSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSSS!!

  34. January 22, 2010

    Why should you consider someone a flight risk when they overstayed and in fact was supposed to have flown away already? hahahaehehehehe

    That’s not a flight risk. That’s a postponed flight. A LIAT. Hahaha.

  35. $uper$aver
    January 22, 2010

    U see dominicans running to other peoples countries but foreigners fighting to stay in ours…man dominica sweet

  36. Forward Thinking
    January 22, 2010

    I’m not shocked by this headline news. Some of them a notorious fraudsters. I am not xanophobic, but I would be extremely careful undergoing any business transaction or employment with these individuals. Every single document has to be scrutinized for authenticity – and sometimes it is extremely difficult to detect if documents have been falsify. In Nigeria it is survival of the fittest, therefore anything goes for survival.

    It is alleged that bribery is rife in Nigeria at an extremely high scale – individuals are paid to falsify documents, falsify credentials, falsify birth certificates, etc.

    For this crime this individual must be deported immediately after his hearing! We do not need any fraudsters in Dominica – Please do not tarnish our beautiful country!

    A Passionate Dominican!

  37. Anonymous
    January 22, 2010

    I think it’s about time that D/CA start taking immigration cases serious. Dominicans living abroad can tell of the lengthy and sometimes costly process they have to under take to remain in foreign countries in the effort to earn a living for themselves and their families. If we are subject to those issues when we migrate why should someone else come to our island and not expect to go through these things? All is fair in love and war… hurrah to the immigration department!!

  38. Shakier Scotland
    January 22, 2010

    They should not grant bail him at all …… These people are just a bunch of con artist every where they go is the same old bull .. Always trying to beat and suck out the system .

    Yoyo what is wrong with people getting caught and taken to court for overstaying , Most countries doing it , its a law … why the hell can’t we ?

    So many of you complaining to much lawlessness in Dominica , now when something gets the right attention you’ll still complain .

  39. D/can to the bone
    January 22, 2010

    The Nigerian have violated the immigrations laws of Dominica and should be deported . He has overstayed his time on his permit or visa. On the second count of document fraud this is deception and should be jailed and deported at the end of his prison sentence.Sorry, but this might be the beginning of some Nigerian ,coming to Dominica and committing fraud to overstay, the immigration authority must be vigilant .

  40. yoyo(London Crew)
    January 22, 2010

    Men da,have joke people even getting cut for overstaying.What a load of **!!!!!

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