NASSAU, Bahamas, Fb 18, CMC – A magistrate court has sentenced a 26 year-old Haitian to two years in prison after he pleaded guilty to acquiring a Bahamian passport, NIB smart card and voter’s card through fraud.
Wakens Saint-Matin pleaded guilty to charges of possession of a forged document, uttering a forged document and fraud by false pretenses with the help of a Creole interpreter when he appeared before Senior Magistrate Anishka Isaacs.
The charges stem from Saint-Matin’s arrest at the Lynden Pindling International Airport on December 18, 2024 with the prosecution telling the court that Saint-Matin had arrived from the United States and presented the passport with the registration number AA289543 to clear immigration.
But the Immigration officer suspected that the passport was fraudulent, and detained him before alerting the police.
The court heard that investigations showed that Saint-Matin obtained the passport in March 2024 by using a forged immigration certificate of registration and that he later used the passport to get a voter’s card and an NIB smart card.
When questioned by the police, Saint-Matin insisted that he acted alone and obtained the documents himself.
Magistrate Isaacs after taking into consideration the time that Saint-Matin has already spent in custody, sentenced him to an additional two years in prison and also ordered the fraudulent documents be destroyed.
Saint-Matin will be turned over to immigration for deportation when he completes his sentence.
CMC/fh/ir/2026