CHARGE OF BIGAMY.

New Zealand Herald, Volume LIV, Issue 16697, 15 November 1917, Page 6

CHARGE OF BIGAMY.

SAILOR'S WIFE REMARRIES. . VERDICT OF NOT GUILTY. i A chabge of bigamy was dealt with at 1 the qanreme Court yesterday before Mr. > Justice Hosking. Sarah E. Sammells (Mr. 1 Singer) was indicted as having committed ■ bigamv on May 20, 1916, by going through • the form of marriage with William E. 1 Kemp while her husband, Harry C. Sammells, was still alive. The main facts were admitted, viz., that in 1913, during the; visit of H.M.S. New' Zealand to Auckland, the accused, who was then a widow named Peterson, was' married to Sammells, a member of her crew, who went away with his ship after a. honeymoon of three days' duration, and that subsequently acousea became house-; keener to Wm. E. Komp, a railway porter, whom, on repeated solicitation, she con-1 sented to marry, and did so. - ! Kemp stated in cross-examination that accused was a good mother to the children of his first marriage during her period as housekeeper. He proposed to her three or four times before she agreed to marry : him. Witness heard her tell Constable McHugh that she believed Sammells went down with, the crew of H.M.S. Sussex in March, 1916, as she had received information from him that he was joining the ill- : •fated vessel. She had been receiving £4 a month from the Admiralty, as an allot- ■ ment, and as the amount was increased to £4 8s after the Sussex disaster, she took the altered sum to be a naval pension,! 1 consequent on Sammells's death. Not until ' , March of this year did accused learn that > Sammells was not on the Sussex when she sank, but on another vessel. 1 The defence was that accused entered - upon her marriage with Kemp in the bonafide belief that Sammells was dead. ! His Honor submitted to the jury the 1 simple question whether accused had reasonable grounds for believing that her sajlor husband was dead. The answer, re- • turned within 20 minutes, was in the • affirmative. Accused was discharged from , | custody. .1