ZARA Holland will be “held accountable” for flouting Covid lockdown laws while on holiday in Barbados, the nation’s prime minister has said.
The Love Island star, 25, will appear in court today, where she could face a year in jail after breaching Barbados’ coronavirus laws.
In a TV broadcast, Prime Minister Mia Mottley said the government was prepared to take the “necessary action” against tourists breaking the rules, such as Zara and her boyfriend.
“I believe that by far the majority of tourists are complying, but the handful who have chosen, literally to ignore our morals, ignore our customs, ignore our laws and guidelines, then you must equally be held accountable with the respect to what you have to face coming out of this country,” she said, according to Mail Online.
Zara has been ordered to appear before island magistrates today after allegedly trying to flee Barbados with her boyfriend Elliott Love after he tested positive for coronavirus.
Both were swabbed on arrival in Barbados and ordered to isolate at the £300-a-night beachfront Sugar Bay hotel – and when Elliott’s test came back positive, they made a run for it to avoid being quarantined.
After cops found the hotel room that they were supposed to be isolating in empty, Zara and Elliott, 30, were arrested by police at the airport.
Elliott was taken to the island’s Paragon military base, which has been converted into a Covid-19 quarantine centre, and Zara was ordered to isolate.
She was forced to check in to the £350-a-night Hilton after the owner of the Sugar Bay refused to allow her to return.
The former Miss Great Britain has been confined to her hotel room since being questioned by the police for the “reckless breach of health protocols”.
She seemed forlorn as she was seen for the first time since her arrest yesterday – gazing out to the ocean from behind the railings of the Hilton Barbados Resort.
Wearing a white sports bra and a sarong in pictures exclusive to Trending In The News, the former beauty queen paced nervously around the balcony in full view of dozens of other holidaymakers.
One told us: “She looked very forlorn and clearly had a lot on her mind. This obviously wasn’t the dream New Year holiday she had envisaged.
“She spent a lot of time talking on her mobile and nibbling on fruit. It can’t be nice being locked up in a hotel room – but better than a jail cell.”
Zara is due to appear before a court in Bridgetown today accused of “contravening the emergency Covid-19 curfew directive” in that “while being a person in quarantine did leave her hotel premises without reasonable explanation”.
It’s believed Elliott will be questioned by police once he has recovered from coronavirus, and could also face charges.
At the weekend, Trending In The News revealed that Zara could be fined up to £18,000 and jailed for a year.
It has now emerged the island has had a surge of 200 new cases of the virus in the past two days, with 33 linked to the airport from which the couple tried to leave.
Zara, from North Ferriby, East Yorkshire, previously told island newspaper Barbados Today: “I would never do anything to jeopardise an entire nation that I have nothing but love and respect for.”
She said: “I firstly wish to apologise to the entire country of Barbados for what has been a massive mix up and misunderstanding during my most recent stay.”
Zara added: “I am currently working closely with the local authorities to rectify any issues on my part and will issue an update and full statement which I think is the only right thing to do to the Government and citizens of Barbados.”
But more than 3,500 people, mainly islanders, signed a petition demanding the pair be thrown in jail.
The petition reads: “They undermined the huge amount of work that had been done to suppress community transmission and they didn’t just risk the livelihoods of Bajans, they risked their lives.
“If one single person dies as a result of their selfish and cowardly actions, then they should be charged with murder. Either way, we strongly believe they should receive a custodial sentence, either in Barbados or the UK, for wantonly endangering the lives of hundreds of thousands of people.”
People who signed the petition labelled the couple “selfish”.
Zara’s day in court comes just one week after a fellow tourist was jailed for six months for a similar breach.
