LATE FOR SENTENCE.

Auckland Star, Volume LV, Issue 116, 17 May 1924, Page 6

LATE FOR SENTENCE.

BREACH OF MARRIAGE ACT.' N____FlES SERIOUS CHARGE. SUPREME COURT INCIDENT. (By Telegraph—Special to "Star.") .1 CHRISTCHURCH, this day. 1 Charles Henry Augustus Jones could not be found this morning to be set at the bar of the Supreme Court for sentence. Last Monday he had pleaded guilty to a charge of making a false ' declaration under the Marriage Act. Mr. Justice Adams ordered the arrest of Jones, who was a prisoner, yet not "" a prisoner, for he was on bail on hi, ; own recognisance of £100. His counsel § Mr. R. Twyneham, made a very agitated 1 search for his client this morning an d • not finding him, suggested to his | Honor that Jones should be arrested and sentence deferred for a few dayi | just for the salutary effect. ' -■ Jones was arrested by the police : - almost at the doors of the Court, hay- ' ing made a mistake in the time for his I appearance of half an hour. However' ' the excuse availed him nothing, and he _ will remain in custody until next Wed-' 1 ' nesday, when he will be sentenced. The case is an unusual one. Jones," who is only 20 years of age, first found:'' trouble when he was charged with ' carnal knowledge of a fifteen-year-old! girl. After he had been charged with S this offence at the Magistrate's Court ") and released on bail until his trial at • the Supreme Court, Jones made inquiries : at the office of the Christchurch Tegifr- p trar of births, marriages and deaths regarding a marriage certificate. He was warned of the consequences of . marrying a girl under 21 years of age without first gaining the consent of her.. .parents. He. then, it is stated, took the' girl.to Ashburton, and they were married hy the Ashburton registrar, Jones, it is alleged, declaring that they were both over 21 years of age. In this way he slipped out of the serious knowledge cliaree preferred against him, because a wife cannot be asked to give evidence against her husband. But: I he found himself charged with making a ; false marriage declaration, and he wag :i remanded to appear for sentence this' f morning. If nothing else the incident provided a welcome break from the strain of the trotting cases. -". !