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A man accused of bigamy walked free from court yesterday having spent five months in jail awaiting trial.
It had been claimed that James Hartley Kelly first married in Edinburgh, Scotland, in 1977. He was then alleged to have married a New Zealand woman in 1989 while still married to his first wife.
But a judge in Whangarei yesterday dismissed the charge, ruling the Crown had not proved its case.
Kelly, 51, had pleaded not guilty to a charge of bigamy and was due to go on trial last year but did not show up for his trial.
He was finally tracked down earlier this year and has spent the last five months in custody before going on trial on Wednesday in Whangarei District Court.
The Crown alleged Kelly produced a fake document claiming he was divorced from his first wife in order to be allowed to marry his New Zealand wife, whose name is suppressed. But Kelly maintained he thought he was divorced.
After the Crown closed its case yesterday Kelly's lawyer, Chris White, asked Judge Duncan Harvey to throw the case out saying the Crown had not proved all the aspects of the charge. Judge Harvey agreed.
He told the jury that bigamy was a relatively uncommon charge and there were several points which had to established. "As a result of argument I have heard ... I have determined that there is not sufficient evidence for the trial to proceed."
Kelly was formally acquitted on the bigamy count.
News of Kelly's case made headlines in Edinburgh earlier this year. His first wife, Mary Kelly, read about her husband in the Edinburgh Evening News.
Mrs Kelly said she was stunned when she walked into a newsagents in Leith, Edinburgh and saw the front-page story about her estranged husband who she had not seen for 20 years.
"It was just a complete bolt from the blue," she told the newspaper. "I couldn't believe it when I saw all these headlines, and there was Jimmy's face all over the paper."
The couple met at a friend's wedding in 1975, and two years later were married. But seven years later the marriage ended and her husband "essentially vanished".
Kelly left behind two children in Scotland - a son, who died in a car accident when he was 17 and a daughter who is now 23.
The court was told Kelly did not return to Scotland for his son's funeral. He sent his daughter a card for her 21st birthday but has reportedly had no other contact with her.
- NORTHERN ADVOCATE
