A BIGAMIST

Grey River Argus, 27 March 1928, Page 5

A BIGAMIST

PLEADS GUILTY “With Easy Conscience” (Per Press Association.) BLENHEIM, March 26., I‘leas of “Guilty” on both charges w re entered by Albert Beard, alias Harry Carr, aged 31. charged with having committed bigamy, by going through a form of marriage at Tuamarina, on Januar .- 26th last, when he was a person already married, and with having made a false declaration to the Registrar of Marriages at Blenheim on January 23rd, when, for the purpose of obtaining a marriage certificate, he described himself as a bachelor, when he was in fact a married man. The prosecution stated that both charg s arose out of the same set of circumstances. In February, 1925, the accused married a Miss Bilderbeck at Dannevirke. They lived together for three months, and there was one child of the marriage. He was then known as Harry Carr. The accused came under the notice of the police in Blenheim in January last, when he went through a form of marriage at Taumarina, this time under the name of Albert Beard, the s cond “wife” having died in the hospital, on the 15th inst. after a misc,i 11 iage. The police evidence was to the ef- ’ fed that the accused, after his arrest, said his second wife was of a very excitable nature, which would lead to her committing suicide if he did not marry her. He decided he had better marry her to save her life. The accused elected to give evidence. He said: “I plead guilty to the charge of bigamy under th? circumstances. At the time I got married, I thought that I was doing the right thing, and even now my own conscience doesn’t tell me lam guilty of doing wrong. That’s all I have to say.” The accused formally pleaded guilty to both charg.s, and was committed to the Supreme Court at Wellington for sentence.