Woman with two husbands ordered to pay $5000

The woman was charged in 2001, having married her second husband during the life of her first husband - an offence which carries a maximum penalty of four years imprisonment.

She had earlier sought a Maximum Sentence Indication from the Court through her attorney, Tara Thompson, and formally pleaded guilty to the charge at the Port-of-Spain Fourth Criminal Assizes.

Justice David Harris accepted the woman’s guilty plea and proceeded to sentencing.

Thompson, in making a plea in mitigation on behalf of her client, asked the judge to consider that the woman was of tender age at the time of her first wedding. Thompson stated that her client was just 19 years old and did not fully appreciate that her first marriage was official, as she never saw her marriage certificate. The woman soon left her first husband due to physical abuse, the Court heard.

Thompson also stated that the woman, once aware of the charge, had since properly sought to divorce her first husband and this was finalised in 2010.

She also has no other pending matters before any other court , and no other previous convictions.

Harris noted that as a starting point, the woman could have been sentenced to serve one year in prison but agreed that were more overwhelmingly mitigating factors operating in her favour that would go towards reducing her sentence.

Harris also agreed with Thompson that there appears to have been no intent by the woman to advance any other illegal activities such as financial fraud or evasion, since she is still married to her second husband and continuing to raise a family.