BOTTLE THROWN ON ROAD

Ashburton Guardian, Volume 70, Issue 46, 5 December 1949, Page 2

BOTTLE THROWN ON ROAD

THREE CHARGES AS SEQUEL

ASHBURTON MAN FINED £l3 When Traffic-Inspector E. -L. Fox was overtaking a car near Chertsey on December 1, he saw a bottle thrown from the vehicle on to the roadway. As a result of this, and subsequent happenings, Arthur Gerald Hepburn, aged 43, of Ashburton, labourer, was fined a total of £l3 by Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Ashburton this morning.

Hepburn, who was not represented by counsel, pleaded guilty to being found intoxicated in charge of a car, to casting glass on to the Main South Road and to driving without a licence. Senior-Sergeant C. H. Reardon, who prosecuted, explained to the Court that, after seeing the bottle thrown from the car, Inspector Fox stopped it, took the name of defendant (then in the passenger’s seat) who had thrown the bottle, and instructed him to clear away the broken glass. Just over an hour later, the inspector came upon the car parked diagonally in the road, w r ith defendant as driver. He was then more intoxicated than earlier, and, on being taken to the station, was certified, half an hour later, as unfit to drive a car. At the station it was also found that he had no driver’s licence.

The Senior-Sergeant added that, as a result of the trouble, defendant had since lost his job. Hepburn was a married man, with fdur children, and was paying maintenance. He had no previous convictions. Defendant, from the dock, said that, he had no explanation to give.

The Magistrate commented that he had had it in his mind to impose a heavier fine than would be the case, but took into consideration the fact that defendant had four children. The act of throwing a bottle out of the car could easily have caused an accident to a following car, and, in any event, even the broken glass could also have led to a crash.

For being intoxicated in charge, defendant was fined £lO, with costs 10s, and he was disqualified from holding a licence for a period of 12 months. For casting glass on the roadway, he was fined £3, with costs 10s, while for driving without a licence he was ordered to pay costs 10s only. ' Five weeks were allowed for payment of tbo fines and costs.