BIGAMY ALLEGED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22032, 12 February 1935, Page 12

BIGAMY ALLEGED

DALMATIAN IN COURT CASE FOR THE CROWN A <;harge of bigamy was denied by a Dalmatian, Mate llich, aged 41, labourer (Mr. H. J. Butler), when lie appeared in the Supreme Court yesterday before Mr. Justice Fair and a jury. * Accused was charged that, having married Matiia Ilic in Yugoslavia on February 24, 1919, he went through a form of marriage with Florence Eugiene Thompson, at Auckland, on March 9, 1932. Mr. Hubble prosecuted.

Ivan Martinac, cook, said he arrived in New Zealand in September, 1926. He delivered to accused a message from his wife, asking for money. Father Milan Pavlinovitch, a Roman Catholic missionary priest for tho Yugoslavian people in New Zealand, said that in August, 1934. while in Yugoslavia, ho was visited by a woman who said she was accused's wife. Witness identified a copy of a certificate showing that a marriage had been performed between accused and Matija Jlich on February 24, 1919. He knew the priest who had signed the copy, and recognised his signature. He also knew that such certificates were produced in the Courts in Yugoslavia in proof of marriage.

At this stage Mr. Butler objected to witness giving expert evidence concerninn the law ot Yugoslavia. The Rev. Jasper Calcier, who performed the marriage ceremony between accused and Miss Thompson in Auckland, said accused told him he had been married previously, and that his wife had died.

Florence Eugiene Thompson said that in 1931 accused received a letter in a black-edged envelope, and told witness that it contained news of his wife's death as a result of an accident. Witness went through a form of marriage with accused the following year. Detective Hamilton produced a statement in which accused said he thought his wife had died in 1931. He therefore considered himself free .to marry again.

Two witnesses denied that accused had shown them a letter intimating that his wife had died. Mr. Butler said he would call no evtdence for tho "defence. He intended to raise various points of law. The hearing was adjourned until this morning.