BIGAMY CHARGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXI, Issue 36, 12 February 1936, Page 13

BIGAMY CHARGE

PRISONER SENTENCED

PROBATION GRANTED

"I have come to the conclusion that you were influenced by this woman with whom you went through a form of marriage." said Mr. Justice Smith in the Supreme Court today when he granted probation in the case, of John Gage Lecky, a motor mechanic, who was found guilty last week on a charge of- bigamy. Evidence as to the prisoner's good character was called by Mr. W. E. Leicester, counsel for Lecky. Mr. Leicester said he had been anxious to ascertain whether prisoner, when he went through the form of marriage, did not have an honest belief that he was divorced. He had found that he was a man who was rather gullible. In fact his brother had told counsel that he was one of the most gullible men he had ever known. The Court had the evidence of the woman with whom Lecky had gone through the form of marriage, and she knew the position. Counsel asked his Honour to take into consideration that she herself, if the Court accepted her evidence, might have gone a long way towards quietening his sense of inquiry. She was a woman of strong character, possibly of stronger character than the prisoner. This, continued counsel, was a type of case which the Court looked upon seriously, but it was, in his submission, not a bad case of its type. Looking at the facts broadly, there was a good deal to be said in favour of the prisoner. Counsel asked that the prisoner should be admitted to probation or ordered to come up for sentence if called upon. "I have been much exercised in mind about your case," said his Honour, addressing the prisoner. "You are 42 years of age, you have had an excellent character hitherto, and the Probation Officer recommends granting probation. Of course, bigamy is a serious offence and it is but rarely the Probation Officer recommends probation, and rarely that the Court grants it. "In this case I have come to the eonclusion that you were influenced by this woman with whom you went through a form of marriage, and I do not think that she has been harmed in pny particular way. There are no children, and I have come to the conclusion that it would not advantage you and it would not be any particular 'advantage to the State, to send you to prison. I propose not to set aside the Probation Officer's report, but to a The prisoner was admitted tion for a period of three years on condition that he paid the cost of the prosecution. _^^_^_^__