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A man accused of faking his own death has pleaded guilty to four fraud charges.
The 42-year-old - whose name is suppressed - appeared at the Christchurch District Court for a depositions hearing this morning.
Police alleged the man staged his suicide in Pt Waikato in November 2002,
and set up a second life in Christchurch under a new identity. His wife had him declared dead last year and collected $1.2 million on his life insurance policies.
After about an hour's evidence by his Auckland-based former wife in court today, the man decided to enter guilty pleas to the charges against him.
He pleaded guilty to two charges of false pretences and three of dishonestly using documents to obtain a pecuniary advantage.
The man faces having his bail revoked if he talks to the media, but his lawyer Barry Hart said his client was relieved to be free from prison, after having spent some time in solitary confinement for his own safety.
Both the prosecution and the defence were happy with today's result.
"There's been a resolution, and it's a very successful one," Mr Hart said.
"My client is now out on bail and he now can breathe the fresh air. He's been in custody for three months, and a lot of that has been in a confined situation because of the problems that have occurred in the prison."
"He's been under a lot of strain by the fact he has been in prison. You have other people try to take your personal items and wanting you to pay money for protection, and all these things are not very helpful."
"Therefore, you get put into confinement, in a sense for your own protection, but it's a prison within a prison, so its not very nice."
The man had a group of supporters, including his brother, in court to support him today and this left him "very emotional".
"Without his family in support he would probably have not handled the prison situation as well as he has."
The man has been released on bail to live in Christchurch until sentencing on July 11. He must live at a specified address, report to the police daily, and not leave Christchurch.
He was forbidden to contact his children or first and second wives.
Police prosecutor Sergeant Mark Berryman had told the hearing before Justices of the Peace that the police would call nine witnesses.
The man's name, the new identity he adopted and the method he used to get that identity had all been suppressed during earlier appearances.
The names of members of both families are suppressed.
Today, large sections of his former wife's evidence was suppressed at the request of defence counsel Barry Hart.
The woman said she had been married to the man for nine years and had two children with him in Auckland, where he worked as a cabinetmaker.
The man had a daughter from a previous marriage.
About 2000, she learnt that he had taken out a $1 million insurance policy on his life, with premiums of $100 a month. It meant their shop business could continue if anything happened to him, he said. Another policy for $125,000 covered their mortgage.
She told of the last time she saw her husband in November 2002. The two were living apart but every weekend he would have custody of the children and take them on outings to Auckland.
That last day, the children were dropped home to her as normal.
But a few days later, she received an envelope containing about $2400, that he had left with her mother. She believed it was the insurance payment from a burglary at the man's house.
Police later told her they had found his car at Port Waikato, after it had been there for several days.
In his opening address, Mr Berryman told the court police believed the man had sent flowers to his grandmother, left cash for his wife and parked his car at Sunset Point, Port Waikato.
He said police saw it as a deliberate attempt to make people believe he had committed suicide and a large search and rescue operation followed.
His wife had him declared dead, and the insurance policy payments were made to her.
The wife was an innocent agent and would not be face any prosecution, Mr Berryman said.
The man was found living in Christchurch last year, under another name. He was found when he applied for a passport in his proper name, not knowing that he had already been officially declared dead.
- With NZPA
