An Australian father, whose wife went missing at sea during their honeymoon in the Caribbean, has been charged with her murder.
As The Sydney Morning Herald reports, 41-year-old Lewis Bennett has been charged in the US with the second-degree murder of his Colombian-born wife, Isabella Hellman.
According to court records, Bennett last saw his wife on Mother’s Day, 2017, on their belated honeymoon cruise on their catamaran from Cuba to Florida. Her remains have not been found.
The FBI said Bennett is accused of killing Hellman—the mother of his child—with “malice aforethought”. It is alleged the sailor intentionally sunk their catamaran to make it appear as an accident.
As PEOPLE reports, Bennett was found by coast guard rescuers alone on a life raft in Cuba in May. He told investigators that he had been sleeping below the deck while the vessel was on ‘autopilot’ when he heard the boat hit something. He said his wife had vanished and he abandoned the ship.
Authorities allege the sailor deliberately damaged the boat from the inside, which then took on water.
The charges come as Bennett was sentenced in a Miami court on Tuesday to seven months jail time for transporting stolen silver and gold coins.
Bennett had dual Australian-British citizenship and was listed as the director of a solar panel company based in Mount Nathan, Queensland
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