PEDESTRIAN'S DEATH

Auckland Star, Volume LXXII, Issue 166, 16 July 1941, Page 8

PEDESTRIAN'S DEATH

DRIVER EXONERATED

NEGLIGENCE NOT PROVED

Pleading not guilty, Charles Matthew McKendrick, baker, aged 31 (Mr. Goldstine) stood trial in the Supreme Court to-day charged with negligently driving a motor van in Newmarket on March 22 so as to cause the death of Alexander McKenzie. Mr. Justice Fair presided.

When the case opened yesterday afternoon the Crown Prosecutor, Mr. V. Ft. Meredith, said that the accident occurred about 10.30 a.m. near the junction of the Great South Road and Manukau Road. McKenzie Afras struck while crossing the road, at a point about two-thirds of the way from the kerb to the tram lines. The van struck him and rolled him 39ft. He was taken to hospital and died within half an hour from shock following multiple injuries. The accused afterwards told the police that he saw the man walking across the road, said Mr. Meredith. When the man saw the van he hesitated and stopped, so the driver, after braking lightly, accelerated and made to pass him. However, the man suddenly went forward and an accident could not be avoided. Mr. Goldstine did not call evidence, but submitted that there had been no evidence led to show negligence on the accused's part. McKendrick, it was shown, had been led into a trap by the actio»s of the man who was knocked down. The accused, he said, had been keenly distressed by the other man's death, though he felt that he was not in any active way the cause of it.

After a short retirement the jury returned a verdict of not guiltv,'and accused was discharged.