REMARKABLE CASE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLV, Issue 121, 24 April 1925, Page 10

REMARKABLE CASE.

PLEA OF MISTAKEN IDENTITY. Per Preis Association. AUCKLAND, April 23. Mr J. Poynton, S.M._ gave judgment in the remarkable case against John William Ho]ie > aged 38, a claim for £53 15s in respect of an order for the maintenance of his wife in England, the defence being a denial of identity. The Magistrate said the accused was, in his opinion, certainly the proper defendant. Ho entirely discredited tho accused’s evidence and tuat of his alleged wife. The photograph exhibited showed the accused standing beside his wife (tho complainant). It was his photograph despite his denial and that of two photographers called in his defence as experts. Half a dozen other photographers could bo called to say the photograph was cortainly that of defendant. Defendant had deserted his wife, contracted a bigamous marriage, ruined the happiness of the family of his second wife, defied the order of tho court in England and New Zealand, and induced an already much wronged woman to perjure herself to support his preposterous story as to his identity. He should be returned to England to answer a charge of bigamy. Hope was sentenced to two months in prison, the warrant to bo suspended so long as 27s 6d weekly is paid, 2s 6d being for arrears.