Ozzie acquitted in cow cod assault case

(CNS): After more than 14 months of waiting for the outcome of the charges laid against him, former MLA Osbourne Bodden expressed enormous relief on Tuesday morning as he was acquitted of beating a man with a cow cod. The Bodden Town business man had always denied using a five foot long bull’s penis, as claimed by Kirk Watler. He had, however, admitted hitting him with a stick in self defence during an altercation at Lorna’s Texaco, the gas station owned by Bodden, in October 2010.  Magistrate Nova Hall found Bodden not guilty of assualt as she said there were far too many inconsistencies in the evidence given by Watler.

Bodden said that although he was confident he would eventually be acquitted, the case had been a cloud hanging over him and his family.  He said that the case should never have gone so far as it was just a case of self-defence.

Looking forward to the holidays and thanking God, he said, “This is such a relief for me and my family after such a stressful time. It’s a good Christmas present.”

During the trial the court heard how the fight between Bodden and Watler had occurred after Watler had caused a disturbance at the gas station’s liquor store.

On the day in question at around lunchtime, Bodden had given Watler a flask of rum and a packet of cigarettes for helping to unload a truck. Watler had shared the rum that afternoon with a group of friends who were also hanging around the public beach by the station, enjoying a drink or two. Sometime later on the same day after Bodden had left, Watler returned to the liquor store at Lorna’s with a flask of rum, which he insisted was a different bottle from that given to him by Bodden, asking to exchange the ‘rum’ for cash or beer.

The cashier told Watler she would need to contact Bodden to clear the exchange with him and he then became agitated, angry and upset and caused a scene in the store, insisting that she made the exchange without calling her boss, but when the police were called he left the premises.

Later that evening when Bodden returned, Watler was still on the beach drinking and witnesses said he was taunting Bodden about calling the police. A few minutes later a member of the staff who was working the pumps at the gas station saw both men engaged in a tussle across the street on the ground and he ran over to pull them apart. He did not see Bodden strike Watler but he saw that Bodden did have a stick and that Watler had two green beer bottles in his hands.

Watler claimed that during the altercation Bodden had struck him several times with a cow cod, described as being some 4 inches in diameter and around 4 to 5 feet long, but the witness did not see such a weapon.

During the trial the lawyers agreed that the credibility of the complainant, who had clearly been drinking on the day, was in question and the magistrate would have to consider if he was bolstering his case by manufacturing things.

Ferguson noted, however, that the injuries sustained by Watler were consistent with a weapon which was pliable rather than a stick. Lloyd Sampson, who was representing Bodden, asked the magistrate to consider the incredulous nature of the complainant’s evidence, whom he said had “lost the plot” in the shop on the day in question, which had been captured on the CCTV.