Bigamist pilot gets conditional discharge

A Caymanian pilot who admitted marrying another woman in Florida while still married to his wife in Cayman has been given a conditional discharge by a Grand Court judge.

William Gonzalez Bodden, 50, pleaded guilty to a single count of bigamy, which carries a maximum sentence of five years’ imprisonment, on 17 Dec. last year, and was sentenced last week.

The court had heard that Bodden married his first wife in 2012, and the couple had a child two years later. In 2018, Bodden moved to Dubai in the United Arab Emirates to work as a pilot. The prosecution stated that his family was originally supposed to join him, but due to issues with the child’s schooling, decided not to relocate there.

In March last year, the court heard Bodden resigned from his job in Dubai and moved to Florida, where he married the second woman. The following month, after Bodden had begun working for a US airline, his wife and child visited him in Florida, unaware he had married another woman.

In September, his wife from Cayman began applying for US residency. She only found out that her husband had married someone else after interacting with an immigration-services provider in Florida and, following online searches and research, found a copy of his new marriage licence, the court heard.

She then filed a report with the Royal Cayman Islands Police Service.

On 8 Dec., Bodden was arrested at the Owen Roberts International Airport. During an interview under caution, he claimed he and his wife in Cayman were separated and that he had been asking her for a divorce since 2018. The court heard that he also “initially attempted to minimize his relationship with [his second wife] by describing her as a lady that he was with while he was in Dubai,” and denied being married to her, Justice Marlene Carter noted.

However, when confronted with a copy of the marriage certificate from the Broward County Clerk’s Office in Florida, he admitted the offence.

Carter, in considering an appropriate sentence, noted that, in this case, the deception was not intended to avoid immigration controls.

She said she also considered that the level of harm suffered by the victim – the first wife – “is not high and is closer to medium harm”, and that there was no evidence that the deception at the root of this offence had caused harm to the second woman Bodden married, “over and above her realization that her marriage to the Defendant is void”.

In her victim impact report, the judge noted, the first wife had described the effects of her husband’s deception, saying it had “shattered her sense of security and trust”, shown “disrespect and betrayal of the marriage” and, for her, “the resultant trauma manifested in constant anxiety, sleepless nights and an overwhelming sense of shame and embarrassment”.

‘Crime against morality’

In her sentencing judgment, delivered on 24 Jan. – a written version of which was released on the judicial.ky website this week – the judge said, “Bigamy is a crime against morality. This court is morally outraged at the circumstances of this offence. The Defendant has caused deep hurt to [his wife]. He has damaged the family he shares with her by his actions.

“The Defendant moved to do what may have appeared to be expedient to him at the time but was, in fact, an act done in pure selfishness. The Defendant may think that he owes [his wife] and his family sincerest [apologies], but that may not be enough. The Defendant’s actions will surely have long-reaching consequences for all concerned.”

However, noting that the court must be mindful of the “cardinal principles of sentencing: retribution, deterrence, prevention and rehabilitation”, she said she decided that a custodial sentence was not appropriate.

This was, she said, due to Bodden’s previous good character, the fact that he had no convictions and other extenuating circumstances.

She ruled that Bodden should be conditionally discharged. The conditions include that he must not commit any offence for a period of one year, after which he will have no conviction recorded against him. If he fails to comply, the judge said, he will be brought back to court for sentence.

Bodden was also ordered to pay costs of $5,000.