Mary Audaine and Beatrice Simon have been fined after pleading guilty to exporting wildlife without being the holders of a permit.
Both appeared in a Roseau court on Tuesday.
Audaine was slapped with a $300 fine to be paid forthwith or spend one month in prison while Simon was fined $400 to be paid by September 30 or in default spend two months behind bars.
According to police prosecutor Inspector Claude Weekes both defendants were arrested at the Roseau Ferry Terminal on the September 10 during routine security checks. Both were about to board a vessel bound for Guadeloupe.
Audaine was found with a plastic bag containing cooked crabs in her luggage. She admitted to the authorities that she was not a holder of a permit and explained that she did not know if the season was open or not.
“I came for a weekend and I love crabs so I wanted to bring some back to Guadeloupe,” she told the police.
Magistrate Candia George explained before ruling that she believes the penalty for these sorts of crimes should be stiffened to send out a clearer message about the seriousness of such offences.
Simon was found carrying seven parcels of frozen crayfish. She pleaded guilty to the charge on Tuesday morning.
When brought to the Roseau Police station Simon said to the police, “Officer, I have it there and I try to export it … so I wrong.”
However, she remained silent when Magistrate Candia George asked her for her plea in mitigation.
A forestry official told DNO that following recommendations made by The Division of Forestry and Wildlife since 1998, Cabinet has reviewed the fine for illegal exportation and importation of wildlife to $1200 but the appropriate legislation is still to be enacted.
Beatrice can behave she could do without that.The other lady her excuse is poor every country have rules. Even Guada!
DNO does it have a hunting season for titiri or do I have to get a permit to send titiri for my daughter in the US who loves Titiri? DNO do some research on this since I have titiri from last year frozen to send for her maybe after Creole Festival.
Why do you not telephone the appropriate government department or visit the department? You will receive this information from them.
northing they have to do
I don’t get why someone would be charged for a ‘plate’ of cooked food.Transporting live crabs would be something different.
As far as the crayfish situation,yes there is a ‘hunting’ season for different creatures however,does that mean that one is not able to freeze the crayfish to be used well after the hunting season? How were the custom officers able to determine that the crayfish was caught after the hunting season and not frozen during the hunting season ?
This doesn’t make too much sense to me.One thing I do know is that while these women were having their luggage searched, there may have been a drug dealer who boarded the vessel with quite a few kilos of cocaine.
i think the offense here is EXPORTING the wild life without the proper permit..
If it is out of season then there is nothing wrong with the fines. Otherwise what is the deal with fining someone for some cooked food ?
Yes they were in the wrong and were fined accordingly, however MORE crabs i believe are KILLED on our roads than through export.
Have we constructed Our roads, drains and seawall in a manner sensitive to wildlife preservation.???I would love to know the answer.
Was Forestry and Wildlife consulted when these projects were being done?
Will we do something and not wait until the last crab is dead!
Lover of DA Crab n Callaloo
i agree fully ..them hucksters too wicked .. the other day one came quadeloupe and he brought how many bags .. bags they said not to bring down .. and he wanna say that is just bags .. like he dont know bags bring back all kind of diseseas ..
When they sell them abroad what will i get when i come home
my question is,is it illegal to have wild life stored in your possession during the off season?
if someone have cooked product,it could be and should be understood that it is for her consumption;But that other one,” Beatrice’that is her work,to undermine the country’s wild life.She should be made an example of.A heffffty fine.
If it is out of season, I can see the reason for the fine. Otherwise the charges seem ridiculous for having cooked food.
Boy long i doh see nice sweet CWIBBISH like that…
i understand that we’re out of season but all you charging d woman for a bowl of cooked crabs, come on man. a hundred dollars apart, 7 bags of crayfish vs a bowl of crabs. D/A the crabs could let of the hook we
nuh wait a wile nah..garbage bags dat dere man….u mean the size of d garbage bag whether its small, its pretty sizeable…and for u to tell me u have 7 of those? dat lady greedy! period and her silence in the court after she was asked a question also means she is rude and damn bold too! i would make her go crazy with a fine doe!
In 1996, I intercepted a huckster doing that same thing – exporting wildlife, namely crayfish, illegally. Forestry stepped in to deal with the matter. These hucksters KNOW that they should NOT be exporting wildlife. They have been in the huckstering business too long for them not to know the laws. The fines should have been increased years ago. What are they waiting for to do so??
so what happen to cargo….i hope they did not dispose of them…hope they gave them to people to be eaten
police aself dat have 2 eat it
@ Cha!!
Some of you can make amusing statements.
If I were the police I would not eat them. We sometimes wonder what happened to confiscated products.
who is to say the crayfish was not caught during fishing season and kept frozen for these two ladies,….. Did anyone see them fishing??
That` is what happens when Laws have no teeth” so to speak, Blatant disregard for Law and order does not apply only to illegal drugs or major crimes, we really need sweeping changes to our Laws in Dominica especially our “PENAL” LAWS which to my mind shapes and forms the foundation of how Quality of life takes shapes, in that, if Quality of life crimes are not enforced and implemented it sends the wrong message to those who seek to blatantly violate the laws of our country. ” Give a man an inch and he takes a yard” Call me and I will work for free cause I love my country. Former comm: of Police.
The faces would have been nice to see.
The lady with the 1 bag i can maybe understand she hold her crab to eat the person that give it to her should have known better. But the one with the seven bags $400 is far to little a fine.. The equilvalent amount she would have gotten paid for it they should have charge her. I’m sure about $400 EURO.
Well they were trying to export to make money…greed…its not hunting season. Illegal for illegal I would just eat my thing at my home and shut my mouth.
You can feel the bit of frustration in the reported comment from the Forestry Offical. Wonder what is taking the Minister for Forestry Affairs so long to have the fines changed. All magistrates who sit on these wildlife cases find it is a joke with the $400 maximum to be slapped on offenders.
i think forestry should educate persons in our country of the various hunting seasons….
Weh…..I well want crayfish! When they take that from them people, cook they going to cook it for themselves wi! WEH!
That is what I keep saying about these places. The government thinks protecting the environment and wildlife is something is done in developed countries. $1200 for violating wildlife laws is not enough in this day and age. The maximum should be closer to $100,000 and let the judge decide on the amount imposed based on the curcumstances of the case. Then we turn around and promote ourselves as the nature isle. Stupes!!
Its food what the heck I thought the woman was exporting live snakes or animals give the people a break the headline does not fit the story.
hmm them officers fraid to fine people man dominicans or not 400 is nothing stupess
What are they going to do with it now? Sell it to the prestigious hotels in Dominica or the custom officers will get sale for it?
who cares wat they do with it! its wrong! jeez!
No Sir, I understand the Dominica Infirmary and the Grotto were the recipients of the Crayfish.
Give them your adress for them to send it to your house. Silly “CHE” Sort zor sot!
i dont even know last when i eat a crayfish. mehsye!
Agreed, the fines are way toooo low.
Hats off to the Forestry Officers who continue to work at securing Dominica’s natural patrimony. It is very evident that the fines are too small and cannot be an effective deterrent to people like Beatrice. Four hundred dollars ($400.00)is a joke for someone of bBtarice’s means to meet. She must be laughing all the way to Gwada. Mr. Minister, give the men who work with you real support. Take the appropriate measures to ensure that people like Beatrice are fined $10,000.00 or so dollars or 24 months behind bars. Only then will people such as the hucksters count the cost before engaging in the crime. This may also serve as a prevention to the suppiers.
The Forestry Officers must tighten their vigilance. On Monday evenings, when the boat leave for Gwada, that is when all the wildife leave. There are other big name hucksters involved in the activity. They should be emabrassed like yesterday when Beatrice and the other lady were paced on police vehicles and taken to the Police Headquarters instead of going to Gwada. They should also be made to lose their passage as well.No refund in those isntances. But the fine is too small. We have to get serious with the hucksters. In the next decade or so when hucksters like Beatrice and those who own hotels around Roseau retires to enjoy their millions, it is Dominica that will be poorer for their actions today. Well done Security Officers, Police and Forestry Officers. There are many more to catch though.
is only now they catching up with Beatrice and them exporters of Dominica’s illegal produces.these people been selling all Dominica’s plants for french people for over 30 years,today french people buying less of our agriculture products.they that killing the farmers.
Seven parcels!? My lady you not serious? You was bringing for the whole of Gwada man? They should have fined you $400 X 7 = $2,800.00 Smh!
Are you SO sure that they was going to resell? You people are something else, stop making your assinine assumptions!!
So your telling that the 7 bags were not for resale? Why would she bring it up then? just to give away?
$10 and $15 they selling a pound so it should be times the amount they bought it
No not the amount they bought it, the amount they feel is a deterrent. The fines should be stiffer to let these people know they cant keep doing that. If you steal in a store, the court imposes not just the value of the item but a severe markup to teach you a lesson, that should apply here.
dat is just pure foolishness…$300 and $400?? this is very discouraging, i dat in de officer’s place next time i letting the people pass with the items, i would not waste my time. Fine the people a hefty bit so that others will learn! stupes. it is time they are fine in the thousands!
well u already no if it was a dominican in dominica they would charge more ,they always pressing the poorer pple down
for your information, is Dominicans that were caught and charged.
They are DOMINICANS!! pure slackness they should charge them no less than 10,000. I’m fed up with this nonesense. Bubbles already ketch all 2 crabs he say to make him a millionaire, now they 2 little wildlife left they packing it nyam. Charge them!
Tut-Tut: «Bubbles already ketch all 2 crabs he say to make him a millionaire, now they 2 little wildlife left they packing it nyam.»
the lady with the cooked crab should get a break.but the one with seven parcels of crayfish,that we all know is for profit
oh my God…yummmmmmmmmmmmmm