The look of fear on Bec Hewitt’s face when she leaves the high-security Bahamas mansion she and Lleyton call home is warranted, Annette Witheridge discovers.
When her tennis ace husband Lleyton Hewitt announced they were moving to the Bahamas, Bec probably expected to find a sizzling new social life among the rich and famous. If so, she must be sorely disappointed.
To outsiders, the high-security gated community of Old Fort Bay looks like an idyllic place to bring up children. But in reality, the 197-hectare “village” is a gilded cage, surrounded by spiked fences and barbed wire.
Just 25 minutes drive away, locals live in abject poverty in the slums of Nassau, and Bec’s neighbours warn that it’s is a dangerous place blighted by crime, poverty and high unemployment. Armed robberies are commonplace, and last week a 34-year-old mother of three became the country’s 53rd murder victim this year when she was gunned down metres from a church. A few days later two more people were killed.
Lleyton, 28, chose the main island of New Providence because he wanted easy access to America’s lucrative tennis circuit. Old Fort Bay is just a 10-minute drive from the busy international airport.
Bec, 26, no doubt expected to make friends with young neighbours, but in reality there are few. Aside from pop singer Shakira, who lives on the coast, most of the residents are retired bankers and businessmen.
Adding to her loneliness is the fact that while Lleyton is instantly recognised by the sports crazy locals, no-one has any idea who former Home And Away star Bec is.
“Lleyton couldn’t be friendlier,” gardener Charles Lewitts says. “But his wife looks so lonely. She is always at the playground with her little girl. It’s such a shame there aren’t any other children here.”
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