CHARGE OF BIGAMY

Southland Times, Issue 20447, 27 March 1928, Page 5

CHARGE OF BIGAMY

PLEA OF GUILTY ENTERED. (Per United Press Association.) Blenheim, March 26. Pleas of guilty on both charges were entered by Albert Beard, alias Harry Carr, aged 31, charged with having committed bigamy by going through a form of marriage at Tuamarino on January 26 last, when he was a person already married and with having made a false declaration to the Registrar of Marriages at Blenheim on January 23, 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 charges arose out of the same set of circumstances. In February, 1925, the accused married a Miss Bildebeck 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 Tuamarina, this time under the name of Albert Beard, the second “wife” having died in the hospital on the 15th inst after a miscarriage. The police evidence was to the effect that accused after his arrest said his second wife was of a very excitable nature which would lead to |jer committing suicide if he did not marry ner. He decided that 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 the 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 I am guilty of doing wrong. That’s all I have to say.” Accused formally pleaded guilty to both charges and was committed to. the Supreme Court at Wellington for sentence.