Groom Discovers He Is Already Married
THE accidental bigamist:
An “old-fashioned” man living in Australia has discovered after his wedding day that he had already been married for 30 years — to someone else.
The 67-year-old learned the news from US immigration authorities when he applied to live in Hawaii with his new — but invalid — wife, the Daily Telegraph reports.
He claimed he had no memory of walking down the aisle with the blonde American he had had a drunken fling with in 1978, despite the signed official Arizona document.
“I looked at the signature and thought it could have been mine or it could not have been,” he said.
After trying to track her down, the accidental bigamist could only find out that she had also wedded again in 1993 — which also would have been bigamous.
“Other than that, no one knows where she is,” he said.
But he succeeded in legally annulling the marriage last month.
“He has no recollection of going through any form of ceremony of marriage with her, or of discussing marriage, or of anything referable to marriage,” Justice Sally Brown said.
Further complicating matters, the man was already had a first wife at the time of his drunken wedding but they have since divorced.
Luckily for the man, his “terrific” Hawaiian partner has stuck by him and they plan to make their union official.
“She looks after me and I take care of her,” he said.
“I’m an old-fashioned guy… I believe that for a marriage to work, it has to be a two-way street.”
Posted: 26th, June 2008 | In: Strange But True Comments (2) | TrackBack | Permalink