BIGAMY ADMITTED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIV, Issue 22627, 15 January 1937, Page 13

BIGAMY ADMITTED

WOMAN IN COURT DESTITUTE AND ILL COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE "I know that I was doing wrong when 1 married a second man while I was still married to my first husband, but I did it because I was ill and unable to work and because 1 was destitute." said Lillian Lois .May Holder, of Wellington, who pleaded guilty to a charge of bigamy in the Police Court yesterday before .Mr. C. I\. Orr Walker, S.M. She was represented by Mr. Aekins.

.Tames Perry, engineer, of Gisborne, said he married accused at Gisborne On April 1, 1925. and they lived together until the end of 19.'!1, when she left alone for Auckland, in May or June, 19:ir>, divorce papers were served on him, and he did not contest the divorce, which was obtained on March 9, 19.56. The first intimation he received of accused having remarried was about November last. Trouble Over Children Cross-examined, witness said lie was a widower, aged 41, with five children, when he married accused, whom he understood was then 21. His eldest child was only six months younger than accused, but there were only two at home, aged three and nine. At first accused got on well with the children, but later there was trouble over them and she left him on that account. At the time of accused's second marriage he was in gaol, serving a sentence of three months' imprisonment. William James Holder, stoker on H.M.S. Wellington, and formerly of H.M.S. Laburnum, said he married accused at the Auckland registry office on September 21, 19.'!.'!, after having kept company with her for a year. Ho then believed her age to be 2.'!. He did not know at that time whether she was married or single, but assumed she was single, as she never told him she was a married woman. He first heard of her previous marriage in October last. Keen to Get Married "I was keen to get married," witness said. "We were quite happy for nine months, although mv wife did not keep good health. In April, 19.'!4, J was ordered to England, and from then until November of the same year I made an allotment to her of £1 a week out of my wages. She then stopped accepting the money and wrote saying she was going to Australia for her health's sake."

Detective I?. Hamilton produced a statement made hv accused in Wellington, admitting the facts given in evidence by the two husbands. " I was so sick at tlie time of my second marriage," she stated, "that 1 did not realise what 1 was doing. My own husband was in trouble at the time and I had no one to depend on. After I married Holder lie kept me until he went to England, and then ho left me L\ a week. I did not receive anything from Perry from the day 1 left him."

Accused was committed to the Supreme Court for sentence, bail being fixed at £IOO, with one surety of a similar amount.