A woman from the Drenthe village of Spier discovered her husband had married again in New Zealand after finding photographs while browsing the internet, local paper  Dagblad van het Noorden reported on Thursday.

The man, who is 51, had travelled to New Zealand for work and his wife and two children were due to join him there.

‘We had agreed we would go to New Zealand to join him but I was having a hard time deciding because my parents are here and my children didn’t really want to go,’ the woman told the paper.

But once in New Zealand, the man kept postponing their arrival, because, she claims, he had already met someone else.

The paper does not specify where the woman found the photos but upon their discovery she reported him to the police and started divorce proceedings.

Court

The man was also found guilty of bigamy in absentia by a magistrate on Wednesday.

Bigamy is against the law in the Netherlands and such cases are rare. The man, who wasn’t present because he has moved in with his New Zealand wife, was given three months’ probation. The woman demanded €500 for psychological damage which the judge granted her.

‘This is a grave matter. There are huge legal implications to being married or not married,’ the paper quotes the judge as saying.

The judge said the man didn’t deserve to go to prison but that it had to be made clear to society that bigamy is reprehensible, the paper said.