Judge reserves decision on name suppression for alleged bigamist and fraudster

The case was called in the Porirua District Court this afternoon. Photo / File

An accused bigamist will wait a little longer before finding out whether his name can be published or not.

The Porirua man, 48, was granted interim name suppression in the Porirua District Court at an earlier appearance in November, for reasons that were also suppressed.

He has since appeared in court twice more, with name suppression arguments put off each time for further evidence to be gathered in support of him keeping his name secret.

He has pleaded not guilty to charges of bigamy and obtaining by deception and will likely have a judge-alone trial, rather than put his case before a jury.

The complainant also has interim name suppression.

At his last appearance in February, the court heard he was considered fit to stand trial.

Today the issue of ongoing name suppression was properly argued, with defence lawyer Craig Smith submitting there was a risk the man and people connected to him could suffer extreme hardship if his name was published.

Judge James Johnston has suppressed the arguments made around suppression, and reserved his decision.

He will likely release the decision in writing within the next week or two.

The man will reappear in court next month.

According to Rainey Collins Lawyers, bigamy carries a maximum sentence of seven years in prison, and is an offence because it is considered to represent a threat to public morality and to compromise the institution of marriage.

"The only defence to the crime of bigamy is if the first spouse has been absent for seven years, and is believed to be dead."