The wife of a Canadian man who was arrested in the Dominican Republic after he was accused of smuggling drugs says all charges against him have been dropped, but he remains stuck there indefinitely.
Jane Wilcox and her husband, David Bennett, had spent a week at a resort in the Dominican Republic with two friends and were on their way home on March 7 when her husband was denied entry at the automated customs gate at a Punta Cana airport and taken to an interrogation room, she said.
There, the couple from Burlington, Ont., were shown a photo of a bag they didn’t recognize, with a slightly different name on it: Davi Bennett instead of David R. Bennett, the name on her husband’s bag and all his travel documents, she said.
Though they were adamant that the bag didn’t belong to them, Wilcox said her husband was charged with trafficking drugs into the Dominican. He was later released on a $5,000 bail, she said.
With the help of the family’s legal team and the RCMP, the charges against him were withdrawn a little over two weeks ago, she said, but he’s still not allowed to come back to Canada.
“Our lawyer down there is trying to get in front of a judge, but nothing’s happening and we just feel like we’re being forgotten and we don’t know what else to do,” Wilcox said in a phone interview.
Before Bennett can come back to Canada, there’s still court paperwork to be done to confirm the prosecutor has withdrawn the case, she said, but there’s a significant court backlog in the Dominican Republic.
“They gave us a 10 to 15 day window for that, which we were horrified by,” Wilcox said, noting they passed that mark days ago. “We’re thinking, can’t we let this innocent man get home?”
Wilcox said the family has been in touch with the local Canadian Embassy, Global Affairs Canada and Karina Gould, their member of Parliament. Their lawyer has also contacted Jacqueline DeLima Baril, Canada’s ambassador to the Dominican Republic, requesting immediate intervention to get Bennett back to Canada, she said.
But while Wilcox has been told everyone’s doing everything they can to help, Bennett is still stuck.
Global Affairs Canada and the Canadian Embassy in the Dominican Republic did not immediately respond to requests for comment.
Wilcox said her family has been informed that the RCMP has made an arrest in Canada in connection to Bennett’s case. A spokesperson for the Mounties said in an email that the force can’t confirm or deny that an arrest has been made, but it is “actively investigating” the case.
Wilcox said the family has incurred roughly $80,000 in legal fees and accommodation costs, and that amount only goes up the longer Bennett is in the Dominican Republic.
She added that she received a text message from her husband Wednesday morning telling her he’s reaching his “breaking point.”
“I’m really concerned about him. His mental and physical health is rapidly deteriorating,” Wilcox said. “We’re just under constant stress.”
Wilcox said she and Bennett have started trauma counselling, but said they have “a long road” ahead of them even after the case is resolved.
“I have to remain hopeful, but it’s wearing really thin,” she said.
