CHARGE OF BIGAMY.

Auckland Star, Volume LXIII, Issue 182, 3 August 1932, Page 8

CHARGE OF BIGAMY.

OTAHUHU MAN ON TRIAL.

The trial' of Evan Bert Da vies, labourer, of Otahuhu, on a charge of bigamy, was commenced in the Supreme Court to-day before Mr. Justice Smith and a jury. Accused pleaded not guilty and was represented by two counsel.

The indictment was that, having married a woman named Mary Jane Rigby at Bolton, England, on December 28, 1901, he went through a form of marriage with Ethel Ruby Montgomery at Otahuhu on December 30, 1014.

The assistant Crown Prosecutor said the. question of identity wae of great importance in the case. In December, 1931, two photographs, a marriage certificate and certain lettere were received from the chief constable of Bolton, Lancashire, requesting that inquiries should be made. When Detective McWhirter interviewed accused at Otahuhu, the officer told him it was alleged he was identical with the man Evan Bert Davics, who had left hie wife in England in 1908 and came to New Zealand. Accused denied that he was the man and mado a statement, which he signed. In this he said he met a man in London in 1908 who offered to pay his passage to New Zealand. This man travelled with him on the boat, and on the voyage asked accused to write letters to his wife.

A married woman residing in Hamilton would identify accused a.s a man she knew in England. While living in Bolton she got to know accused and met a woman who was introduced as accused's wire. The hearing is proceeding.