SUPREME COURT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXI, 7 August 1928, Page 4

SUPREME COURT

SENTENCED FOR BIGAMY

(By Telegraph.—Press Association)

AUCKLAND, 6th August.

Ernest Heap pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy in the Supreme'Court and was sentenced to eighteen months' imprisonment, to be cumulative upon a sentence he is already serving for failing to •" maintain , his second wife and her family. Counsel for the accused said his wife left him in 1913 and went to England. He had written to her, but got no reply. In 1919 he went through a form of marriage with the second *wife. Mr Justice Reed said the prisoner's offence was a serious one. He had gone through a form ,of marriage without making any inquiries as to whether his wife was alive. ,

HABITUAL CRIMINAL'S MARRIAGE

AUCKLAND, i6th August. When .Edith Emily? Collins petitioned for divorce from Frederick Trevor Collins on the grounds of desertion, counsel said that respondent was an habitual criminal, and'had married her in May, 1925, without disclosing the fact. They had spent six days or their honeymoon in an hotel, Collins depriving his wife of £4OO and attempting a get away to Australia. He was arrested at Wellington for breach of probation and had been there ever since. Petitioner stated that on the strength of false telegrams she had given Collins £4OO to invest. The Rev. Jasper Calder gave evidence that he knew respondent under six different names.

Mr Justice Reed adjourned the case to allow the present evidence to be' supplemented by an affidavit evidence from Wellington, stating that the' fact that the man was in gaol did not prove desertion, t , .

COMPENSATION CLAIM

WELLINGTON, This Day

A claim on behalf of the widow and mother of. Thomas George Needham for £IOOO. damages from the .Wellington Corporation was heard in the Supreme Court to-day. Needham was driving an express up a hill in Tinakori road and was walking on the roadway, when, a tram struck the express, injuring Needham. Medical evidence showed that a medical examination by two doctors in the Hospital and also X-rays, failed to disclose any injuries. Pneumonia supervened and Needham died. A post-mortem revealed seven broken ribs.

DUNEDTN SESSIONS OPENED

DUNEDTN, This ,Dav.

The criminal sessions of the Supreme Court opened before Mr Justice Ostler with eight cases for trial—two sexual eases, three involving dishonesty, two assault cases, and one of manslaughter against Thos. Smith Carruth. Tn the last named case a lorry was loft on the road at Poolburn at night without lights, with an 18-fnot ladder stickjng cut behind. A motor cyclist without a light, and travelling at high speed, struck his head' on the ladder and was killed almost immediately. No bill was returned asainst Carruth. Walter R. Sanders, 29, (who it was stated was seriously ill), for arson, was sentenced to three years' probation.