OFFICER CHARGED WITH BIGAMY

Southland Times, Issue 24889, 31 October 1942, Page 4

OFFICER CHARGED WITH BIGAMY

Alleged Marriage To

Nurse

(P.A.) AUCKLAND, October 30. The trial of a New Zealand Army officei - who was alleged to have married a nurse in Egypt while his wife was still alive in Auckland, was held when Lieutenant Joseph William Godfrey, 2nd N.Z.E.F., aged 35, faced a general court-martial on a charge of bigamy. The charge against the accused was that at Cairo on July 22, 1942, he committed bigamy by marrying a Sister of the New Zealand Army Nursing Service while his wife was still alive. Godfrey pleaded not guilty. ’Hie defence did not question the jurisdiction of the Court to deal with the case. Colonel Leary, who prosecuted, stated that the case could not be tried by the civil courts in New Zealand as the alleged offence had not been committed in the Dominion. It could be tried by general court-martial by virtue of the fact that soldiers on service were subject to the provisions of the English Army Act. The evidence showed that Godfrey was married in Auckland in 1930. He went to the Middle East in 1941, where he met a nurse and was married to her. For the defence the submission was advanced that the action must fail. The Foreign Marriages Act stated that a marriage in the circumstances of the case must be solemnized by an officer under the command of a commanding officer of British forces abroad. There was no proof that the marriage was solemnized by such an officer. Further, other requirements of the Foreign Marriage Act had not been complied with. The marriage was thus not valid. The prosecuting officer contended that the marriage was valid. The finding will be promulgated.