Seaman returns to TT after taking legal action

A mariner who left TT on March 14 to attend a four-day training course in Brazil arrived on Monday from Barbados after he received an exemption to return home.

Marc Lorenzo Bodden, a second officer, and father of six, who was stranded in Barbados because of the border closure is now quarantined at the UWI Debe campus.

On Monday, Justice Ronnie Boodoosingh deemed Bodden’s matter fit to be heard urgently and granted him permission to apply for judicial review in which he was seeking an order to quash the decision of the National Security Minister to deny him an exemption.

Although he received the exemption and has since returned home, Bodden is still pursuing his claim for constitutional redress on the basis that the minister’s denial was arbitrary, unreasonable, irrational and unfair. He has 14 days to file his claim.

Bodden, of Golconda, left TT on March 15 and was expected to return on March 23. When he learned of the decision to close the borders on March 22 because of the covid19 pandemic, he tried to get his flight brought up but there were none leaving on time for him to return home before the borders closed.

In his application, Bodden said he was allowed to enter Barbados on the basis that he intended to return home to Trinidad.

It also said he completed the mandatory quarantine required by the Barbados government and tested negative for covid19 and was willing to pay for his return to TT. It also said he made private arrangements to return home by a private aircraft.

Last week, Bodden’s attorneys Anand Ramlogan, SC, and Che Dindial, sent a pre action protocol letter which said he went to TT’s consulate in Brazil and was advised to take a flight to the United Kingdom after which he could travel to Barbados and then to Trinidad.

He did so, arriving in the UK on March 25 and Barbados two days later.

Bodden was put in mandatory quarantine at the Paragon Military Camp in Barbados for 14 days. He was released from quarantine on April 11, after testing negative for covid19 and is now in self-isolation at a guest house.

His claim said Bodden was willing to subject himself to quarantine in Trinidad and was losing job opportunities. “He has all but exhausted his personal savings,” the claim said, adding that he was on the brink of desperate financial, emotional and personal ruin and was on the verge of becoming homeless in a foreign country.

Bodden wrote to Chief Medical Officer Dr Roshan Parasram on April 20, asking if he could be accommodated on the chartered flight which brought the 33 TT nationals who were in Barbados, the claim pointed out.

Bodden also wrote to Young asking to be permitted back home, expressing his anxiety and frustration of being stranded for so long.

He said he was also expected to return to work at Shell on May 6, and again on May 25, he again e-mailed Young asking for permission to reenter TT since he was out of money.

On June 4, Bodden received an e-mail from the National Security Ministry’s corporate communications unit telling him his application for exemption would be considered.

He also referred to other people who were granted exemptions to support his claim that he was being treated differently.