THREE BIGAMISTS CONVICTED

Press, Volume XCI, Issue 27639, 21 April 1955, Page 14

THREE BIGAMISTS CONVICTED

MAGISTRATE’S COURT AT GREYMOUTH CHARGES AT ONE SITTING (New Zealand Press Association) GREYMOUTH, April 20. Mr H. J. Thompson, S.M., announced in the Greymouth Magistrate’s Court today that he had just become the first New Zealand Magistrate to convict three persons for bigamy during bne Court session. Those convicted were Frank Bannister, a 35-year-old Canadian railway surfaceman at Birchfield, ndar Granity, Shirley Frances Lorraine Corbett, aged 27, of Black’s Point, Reefton, and James Henry Wearne, aged 37, a miner, also of Black’s Point. Bannister admitted having been married in Newfoundland in 1941 and going through forms of marriage at Salford; England, in 1946 and Blenheim in 1952. He alleged that both his wife and the woman in England were also guilty of bigamous marriages. Corbett admitted having been married at Nelson in 1947 and going through a form of marriage at Greymouth in October of last year.

Wearne admitted going through a form of marriage with Corbett when he knew she was a married woman. All the accused were remanded for sentence tomorrow afternooti. “It is most unusual for cases of this type to come before the Court in such quantity. Bigamy is a very serious offence, as the maximum penalty of seven years’ imprisonment for a first conviction indicates,” Mr Thompson said.