Having two wives lands Samoan in court

File photo / Thinkstock

A Samoan bigamist who convinced his second Australian wife that he was single and childless has been hauled through the courts by the woman he wed first.

Auavea Faitala has taken revenge on her unfaithful husband Soonafai Faitala after discovering the father-of-three had been masquerading as an unattached man.

Auvea Faitala married the charismatic 37-year-old in 2005 and knew something was amiss when he didn't return home in early January this year, the Samoa Observer reported.

"She thought he might have been having an affair and then found out he'd gone a step further and married another woman, a Samoan Australian," reporter Joyetter Luamanu told AAP.

"He'd even gone to the second wife's parents and told them he was single and had no children and everything."

Ms Luamanu said the betrayal was amazing given both women were living in Apia at the time, and the wedding was likely held in a local church.

While extra-marital affairs were "all too common" in Samoa, bigamy was "extremely rare and totally unacceptable" in the Pacific nation, the reporter said.

Judge Mata Tuatagaloa clearly agreed, calling Soonafai Faitala a liar and a deceiver and slapping him with a 300 Samoan tala ($165) fine for his crime.

His embarrassed apology to the court probably spared him a jail term of up to five years, as did news that he'd promptly returned to his first wife once the deception was uncovered.

No further explanations were forthcoming.

"We tried to chase him after the court appearance but he just disappeared. I guess he didn't want to talk to us," the reporter said.

- AAP