Couple files complaint after ordeal at Dominican resort
Thu Apr 26, 7:08 PM
ST. JOHNS (CBC) - A vacation in the Dominican Republic turned into a harrowing ordeal for a Labrador couple who found themselves being interrogated in what they assumed was a jail.
Andrew and Dawn Sinnott, a bank manager and a teacher from Happy Valley-Goose Bay, had barely unpacked at a resort called Sunscape The Beach in Punta Cana when they heard a disturbance involving five or six local people near their villa.
"We ignored them ... and a few minutes later, they started banging on the door," said Andrew Sinnott, who was then accused of stealing a cellphone belonging to one of them.
The men escorted the Sinnotts - who had flown to the resort to attend the wedding of friends - to the lobby, where the accusations continued, including from a man who said he was a resort employee.
"He threatened that the police would have to be involved, that we were going to be in big trouble, that we had to admit we took the phone," Andrew Sinnott said.
"That's when ... we both realized that this was getting out of control, that this was not just a misunderstanding," said Dawn Sinnott, who began yelling for help.
"You think you're in big trouble now?" Dawn Sinnott recalled a man identifying himself as an employee telling them. He then told them, she said, "You just disturbed the peace. I'm going to have you arrested.... You're going to prison forever."
Instead of a marked police vehicle, though, a white pickup truck arrived to take the Sinnotts away. They were taken to a building with cells, although they were later told the building is used by tourism security and not the actual police.
The Sinnotts said they were astonished when - at one point during the interrogation - the man who accused them of stealing his cellphone answered a cellphone he was carrying. The man said the cellphone he was using belonged to someone else.
"That's when it stopped being about the cellphone," Dawn Sinnott said.
'If you just give us the money, you can go'
"He said, 'If you just give us the money, you can go,'" Andrew Sinnott said. "I didn't have the [cash] - I didn't even have a room key."
The Sinnotts said they were then separated into different cells. Later, Andrew Sinnott was taken back to his room at the resort - which he said had been searched in the interim - to get his Visa card.
"They took me back up to the lobby, saying, 'Keep your mouth shut, don't say a word, you'll never see your wife again, you'll be in jail forever,'" Sinnott said.
A cash advance of about $1,000 Cdn was put on Sinnott's card. He said the cash was then distributed to three men.
The Sinnotts were reunited and then allowed to return to the hotel. They said that a resort manager told them they would be evicted if they mentioned a word of the ordeal to anyone.
They stayed overnight, but the next day paid about $3,000 for two one-way tickets home.
The Sinnotts have made a statement to local police in the Dominican Republic.
Cash advance requested: resort
Marco Soria, the manager of the Sunscape The Beach resort, told CBC News that a Dominican guest claimed the Canadians had stolen a cellphone and some clothing.
Soria said the other parties in the dispute were a Dominican businessman and his wife. He said he put the Sinnotts, the other couple and a security manager in his SUV to straighten out the mess. He said the Sinnotts were not placed in cells.
"They were absolutely entitled to call the embassy, but they never did it," Soria told CBC News.
"They were so drunk, so drunk - trust me," Soria said.
The Sinnotts vehemently deny that they were intoxicated.
Soria said the Sinnotts later asked for a cash advance to pay for a cellphone, although he acknowledged that the amount requested was more than double the cost of a new phone in the area.
Soria said if the Sinnotts had problems during their stay, they should contact the local authorities.
The Dominican Republic is the top vacation destination among Atlantic Canadian travellers. Mike Donovan, manager of LeGrow's Travel in St. John's, said complaints are rare and never serious.
"For people who've gone for years, they feel very safe," Donovan said.
Lynn O'Keefe, a St. John's travel consultant whose company, Lynn's Cruises and Vacations, books weddings at all-inclusive resorts in the Caribbean, said she had never heard of such a case in more than 20 years in the industry.
She also said it is highly unusual for Canadians to be put in a vehicle.
She advised travellers to be cautious when travelling overseas.
"I never open my door to anyone," she said. "If anything looks not right, you just don't open that door."
She suggested that if travellers encounter a disturbance outside their door, they call the hotel or resort operator immediately to report it.
Meanwhile, the Sinnotts asked their bank to put a stop on the $1,000 advance on their Visa card. _________________ kyranŠ
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