RUDE SHOCK.

Auckland Star, Volume LXVI, Issue 243, 14 October 1935, Page 8

RUDE SHOCK.

WIFE'S CONFESSION. . SURPRISE FOR SAILOR. ' COMMITTED FOR BIGAMY. Three days after lie married Malche Amelia Ruby Williams, aged 22, on Septembcr 28, a bluejacket was shocked to hear from his new "wife," the confession ' that she was already married and that 5 her husband was still alive. Mrs. Williams later called at the police station and made a frank state- | mcnt, with the result that she was ' charged with bigamy in the Police j Court this morning before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M. Mi - . Townsliend appeared ! for accused. Robert Henry Williams, butcher, gave ■ evidence that lie was married to accused . at Auckland on June 17, 1933. There was one child of the marriage, aged ' ono year and eight months. In April of ' last year witness and accused agreed i to separate, his wife going back to live with her parents. He had seen her fre- ' quently since then and had been paying 1 maintenance for her and their child. He last saw her on September 28 when ' they were thinking of returning to eacJi other. A bluejacket in civilian dress, whose name was ordered to be suppressed, said lie met accused in November of last year. He first knew her as a "Miss," but later she informed him that she was Mrs. Williams, a divorced woman. Accused said her husband was living in Auckland. Witness kept company with her and on September 28 last went through a form of marriage with her, the Rev. Ferguson Fish performing the ccremony at Ponsonby. They afterwards lived as man and wife. "On October 1 she told me that she had married me when her husband was already living," concluded the sailor. Mistaken Impression. Detective H. A. Wilson said that on October 4 Mis. Williams had called at the detective office and informed him that she had gone through a form of marriage on September 28 while her husband was still alive. In a statement accused said slio was 10 years and six months old when she was married. Owing to domestic trouble she separated from her husband, and later kept company with the other man for 12 months. Accused said she was under the impression that a legal separation permitted her to remarry. Accused pleaded guilty and was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence. Bail of £100 was allowed. Mr. Townsliend asked that the name of the man who had gone through the form of marriage with accused should be suppressed. "Yes, I think it should, too," said the magistrate. "We usually make it in the case of an injured woman, but in this case the injured party is a man." (Laughter.)