(Trinidad Express) Confessed bigamist Lynette Phillips was told yesterday that her illegal marriage left her second husband feeling cheated and humiliated.
“The VC (virtual complainant) suffered some form of hurt (and) a bruised ego by the deceit,” Justice Geoffrey Henderson said.
He sentenced Phillips to a fine of TT$7,000, reminding her that the law was one spouse at a time.
The humiliated husband, George Wildman, attended the sentencing hearing in the San Fernando Supreme Court.
He told the Express that Phillips should have been jailed.
Phillips was charged that on November 7, 1995 at Couva, she married Wildman, while still married to first husband Leroy Phillips.
In July this year, Phillips, 57, of Couva, pleaded guilty.
The State’s evidence is that on June 19, 1977, she married Leroy Phillips and they were together for 18 and a half years before their marriage broke up in October 1995.
Then on November 7, 1995, Lynette Phillips married Wildman at the Warden’s Office at Couva.
However, in 2000, Leroy Phillips was summoned to the court for divorce proceedings and on February 20, 2003, the divorce was finalised through a “decree absolute”.
The court heard that Wildman, while married to the accused, contacted Leroy Phillips and in April 2006 the matter was reported to Constable Anand Bissoon.
Lynette Phillips was later charged.
“You might have thought this is a private matter between you and the two men in your life, but bigamy is in no sense a private matter,” Henderson said.
He said the State ought to be sure of the marital position of people in society as it deals with pension schemes, insurance policies, immigration laws, financial institutions and housing arrangements.
Henderson told Phillips she was well-read and articulate and being 40 years old at the time of the crime, she “should have known better”.
While no victim impact report was done on Wildman, he was quoted in the probation officer’s report as saying the incident had caused him to feel cheated, manipulated, humiliated and emasculated.
Wildman said outside the court: “If I was weak I would have died. I was embarrassed the way in which it happened. All I wanted was justice…I don’t hate her. I hate what she did… I was looking forward for him (the judge) to jail her.”
Wildman was a divorcee before he married Phillips.
Defence attorney Kern Edwards said his client had never had a matter before the court and asked that she be fined, placed on a bond or ordered to do community service.
He said compensation could be pursued before the civil court.
Edwards said she spent two weeks in jail as she waited for her bail to be posted after the charge was laid.
A bigamy charge carries a maximum sentence of four years in prison.
Henderson said that had Phillips married Wildman for financial gain, she would have been jailed. But he said there was no evidence of this and therefore no consideration was given.
She was ordered to pay a TT$7,000 fine by the end of November or serve seven months in prison.
The State was represented by attorney Angelica Teelucksingh and Ambay Ramkhelewan.
