JURY DIVIDED.

Auckland Star, Volume LXX, Issue 32, 8 February 1939, Page 12

JURY DIVIDED.

TRIAL OF TAXI-DRIVER. NEGLIGENT DRIVING CHARGE. After a retirement of four hours and 40 minutes the jury failed to agree yesterday In the case of Herbert Kane, taxi-driver, aged 37 (Mr. Henry), who was tried before Mr. Justice Fair on a charge of negligent driving so as to cause death. The charge arose out of an accident on the Great South Koad on August 20, when a car driven by Mrs. Elizabeth Muir, of Papatoetoe, crashed into a telegraph pole, Mra. Muir being killed. The Crown case, conducted by the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. R. Meredith, was that the accident was due to the accused cutting in between Mrs. Muir's car and a tramcar and forcing her to the left. The hearing was continued and concluded yesterday after the jury had visited the scene of the smash.

In Humming up, his Honor pointed out that the amendment of distance made by a police witness in the hearing as compared with that given by him in the Lower Court might have been due to a misunderstanding when the statement was signed. ■ When the foreman «f the jury reported that there wa? no possibility of the jury coming to an agreement, his Honof recorded a disagreement and granted Mr. Meredith's application for a new trial, to be held next Monday, The accused was released on bail.