What had been a week of fun to the sun for a Burlington couple, Ontario, this winter has become “a living nightmare.”
Jane Wilcox said she and David Bennett, as well as another couple, were about to address a flight in the Dominican Republic to return home from her vacation when Bennett was taken from a security verification line at the Punta Cana International Airport and sent to an interrogation room.
After pleading, Wilcox said, he was allowed to enter the interrogation room, where the officers showed them a photo on a bag of a bag with a label with the name “Davi – Davi – Bennett … He had the Puj airport code, so he entered Punta Cana airport.”
Wilcox told CBC Hamilton that they later discovered that the bright yellow bag that were shown on the phone was “full of drugs.”
I gave him my two dollars and a charger for his phone, and gave him a big kiss.– Jane Wilcox
While the language barrier made communication with the officers difficult, said Wilcox, the couple tried to explain that everything in Bennett’s itinerary, their luggage, their passport, their boarding pass, had “David R. Bennett. [We’ve] I’ve never seen that bag before. “
“Through Google Translate, they [the officers] He said due to the similarities of the names, “we need to stop it for greater investigation,” Wilcox said.
“Then, I simply went and sat on him,” he added. “I simply sat in his lap and it was like, ‘I can’t leave’. By then, the other couple was sending text messages to say they were addressing the flight.”
‘You have to get me out of this disaster’
Wilcox and Bennett work in the same public relations company. He said that although she was arrested, she urged her to return to Canada.
“Dave said: ‘You have to leave. You have to go home and you have to work for me from there. You have to get me out of this disaster.
“I had $ 2.
Wilcox said he later listened to Bennett after landing at the Pearson International Airport in Toronto.
“He sent a photo of his own bag, the Eygio Stock Exchange with its Yyz label that showed David R. Bennett. He said: ‘We can need this'” As evidence to support his innocence.
On March 8, Bennett called Wilcox around 12:30 pm et.
“He said: ‘I have been arrested for importing illegal drugs and I am in jail, and last night it was the most horrible night of my life. But I’m fine and I need your help. I need you to put it immediately. You have to connect with our RCMP friends, you have to connect with [Burlington MP] Karina Gould’s office, you have to get a lawyer: we have to go to action. So that is exactly what I did, “Wilcox said.
Bennett was arrested in jail for three nights and then taken to the Court on March 10. Wilcox said he was granted bail of $ 5,000 and that he now stays in an Airbnb rental.
The next appearance in the Bennett court will be “a preliminary trial”, but a date has not been established, said Wilcox. Meanwhile, he is not allowed to leave the Dominican Republic, he said.
Wilcox said they now have legal representation in Canada, as well as in the Dominican Republic, and lawyers are working with authorities in the Caribbean country while fighting the charges.
“Dave is only 100% innocent,” says the wife
According to Wilcox, Bennett is a “member of the strong community” and has never been involved in drugs.
“Dave is just 100 percent innocent. It is impossible to even contemplate that this would happen.”
Bennett was born in Montreal and moved to Oakville, Ontario, when he was a teenager. He has been living in Burlington for 32 years and has been playing at the Burlington Oldtimers Hockey Club for more than 10 years.
“He is a stepfather of my two wonderful boys, Ben and Nick … and Dave offered as a volunteer in Tyondaga Golf Club in the past, and he helps in Hidden Lake [Golf Club] Because he loves golf a lot, “Wilcox said.
“It is like the most standup and reluctant type to the risk you could know. The fact that he is being held for these false charges is very against his character.
“Then, until I am back at home, we are still in a living nightmare. It is a living nightmare, it is a kind of how I describe it all the time,” Wilcox added.
Since March 8, the family has connected with Global Affairs Canada, which gave them a case number, he said. Contact was also made with Gould, who represents the federal driving of the couple, said Wilcox.
Consular officials in contact with the authorities: Global Affairs
CBC Hamilton sent an email to Global Affairs Canada to ask if he was aware of Bennett in the Dominican Republic. The Federal Department responded, without appointing Bennett in particular, that he is aware of the arrest of a Canadian citizen in the Dominican Republic.
“Consular officials are in contact with local authorities and are providing consular assistance. Due to privacy considerations, no more information can be disclosed,” wrote a spokesman in an email to CBC Hamilton.
Meanwhile, Wilcox said, Gould’s office has been very receptive.
“They immediately intensified foreign affairs and the Mélanie Joly office.”
On Tuesday, an email from Gould’s office to CBC said they have been in contact with Wilcox and knows the situation of her husband in Punta Cana.
“We have communicated with Global Affairs Canada in their name, and they are currently investigating the matter while maintaining direct communication with the immediate family. We hope that their case will be resolved immediately,” said the email.
In addition, Wilcox said, the family’s legal team “has been in contact with Westjet and Yyz [Pearson airport] To make sure we get all the evidence that we basically need that David has never been close to a yellow bag in any of the trips we take. “
Wilcox has been in public relations and crisis communications for 30 years, but said: “This is the biggest crisis in which I have worked in my whole life.”
“I knew little I would have to use my experience for my own family, but here we are.”
Wilcox said he has focused on a three -phase approach to treat the arrest.
“Phase 1 was to get Dave out of jail, what we did on Monday, March 10,” he said about him reaching bail. “We are in phase 2 at this time. Phase 2 is taking Dave home and is demonstrating to be a very long phase, but that is exactly what we are focused at this time: take David home.
“After that, there will be phase 3, and that is once David is at home. What happens after that? … we really are not thinking so much because we are very focused on taking him home.”
Wilcox said the family has organized a fundraising for this Friday, and has established a Gagodggo account to help “absorb the costs of our legal fees and all the rest of the expenses.”
