(CNS): A local man who has been addicted to drugs since he was a teenager was jailed for four years on Friday in relation to a robbery at a convenience store in West Bay in December 2024. Diego Alexander Bodden (35) held up the 24hr grocery shop at the district four-way stop with a toy gun after he gained access to the store behind a customer that the shop worker had buzzed in and made off with $150.
Bodden was captured on CCTV and picked up by police shortly afterwards and pleaded guilty on the morning of his trial. In a victim impact report the court heard that the woman who was on duty alone in the store on the night suffered “intense fear” when she saw the armed man and has suffered significant distress as a result of the robbery.
As Justice Cheryll Richards delivered her sentencing ruling she noted a social inquiry report that had outlined a “grim picture of a childhood exposure to alcohol and drug addiction” in Bodden’s family. At the age of just 14 he was forced to leave home due to those problems and began dealing drugs to feed himself. Despite a very trouble life that included associating with local gangs and the murder of his brother, this robbery was Bodden’s first conviction.
The court heard that Bodden has been self-medicating with drugs and booze all of his life and suffers from untreated depression and had fallen into “a vicious cycle,” taking drugs just to feel normal. The robbery had been committed to fuel that addiction. Despite his own efforts to get clean after checking into Caribbean Haven in 2022 this had failed to address his deep dependence on drugs.
His lawyer told reported however that Bodden had been taking some academic as well as technical courses since he has been on remand at HMP Northward after being charged with this offence.
As she handed down the 48 month sentence, Richards said that Bodden was in need of rehabilitation and that he should receive the help he needs while incarcerated to address his addiction problems. She pointed out that prison must be about rehabilitation as well as deterance and punishment.
