SUPREME COURT

Press, Volume LXXXI, Issue 24712, 1 November 1945, Page 3

SUPREME COURT

QUARTERLY SESSION CONTINUED CHARGES AGAINST MOTORISTS Two criminal cases, both of which had arisen from motor accidents, were brought before Mr Justice Northcroft in the Supreme Court yesterday, the second day of the quarterly sessions in Christchurch. Prisoner Acquitted Gordon' Bell, a single man, aged 40, employed as a fitter by the Public Works Department, pleaded not guilty to a charge of negligently driving;a motor-car and thereby causing the death of Ivy EUea Cbrboy, a member df the Women's Auxiliary Air Force'. Mr A. W. Brown appeared for the Crown, and Mr. F. D. Sargent, with him Mr C. S. Thomas, for Bell. Lemuel David Jones, a plumber employed by the Public Works Department, gave evidence that he had left Tekapo in a motor-car driven by Bell. The, car had been driven by Bell over the whole journey. At Temuka they both had a few glasses of beer. On the road between Sockburn and Riccarton they were travelling about 25 miles an hour. He had first become aware that something had happened when he noticed an object on the right-hand mudguard of the car. There was no noticeable thud or bump. The first time he realised that a woman, had been hit was when he looked back. Bsll nad stopped the <:ar and they had Doth gone back' and found a woman lying on the road near the tramlines. > Edward Luke-Archer said he had been driving on the Main South road towards Sockburn. He had stopped n'is car near Craven street, and had found a woman : lying badly injured on the road. It was : a fair night for driving. He had not seen ' the accident. Further evidence was given by an ambulance driver, William Osborn Butler, and by William Thomas Anderson, a tramway motorman. In a statement made by Bell to the police, and read to the Court by Sergeant J. M. Burke, Bell said that in his opinion . the accident was caused by the girl appearing /'as from nowhere," with the result that ne did not have an opportunity to avoid hitting her. Visibility at the time was "not of the best.". Answering a "question by Mr Thomas, Sergeant Burke said that on the morning after the accident Bell had said to him: "I did not see the girl. It was not my fault." After a retirement of 45 minutes the jury acquitted Bell, and he was discharged. Remanded for Sentence Bain Waite Turnbull, a motor driver, aged 24, for whom Mr W. K. L. Dougall appeared, pleaded not guilty to a charge of having negligently driven a motor vehicle on August 15, and thereby caused the death of Allan Raymond McGregor. For the Crown, Mr A. W. Brown said that on V-J Day, "in broad daylight about 2.30 p.m., an accident occurred near the intersection of Moorhouse avenue and Montreal street. Turnbull, who was a driver employed by a coal company, had been on his rounds until 11 a.m., when a holiday was declared for the remaindei of the day. One of the "heads" of the coal company had provided a keg of beer, which was rapidly finished. Turnbull and other employees had set out to get the keg replenished. The truck they were in had broken down, and it was arranged that Turnbull would return to the coal company's yard to get his own truck Turnbull got into the driver's seat of a three-ton truck and drove along Moorhouse avenue. Of three friends in the truck with Turnbull. one was sitting on the right-hand side of the driver. The speed of the trtyik on Moorhouse avenue was allegedly between 45 and 60 miles an hour. Outside a hotel at the corner of Montreal street a young man, who was a cripple, was leaning on his crutches on the driver's side of a motor-car, talking to friends in the car. The truck swerved, caught the young man beside the car, and threw him into the air. causing injuries from which he died. Evidence was given by Brian Alfred Gallagher, Douglas George Jones, and Charles Desmond Jones, passengers on the truck at the time of the accident, and by 12 others witnesses, all called by the Crown. Henry Thomas Fuller, a company manager, said the truck had passed his car going in the same direction along Moorhouse avenue. His car was travelling at 28 miles an hour, and he estimated that the truck was moving twice as fast. The truck swerved, struck the man on crutches. % and hurled him Into the air. The truck stopped about 40 yards further on. In a statement made to Detective E. G. Ward and read to the Court, Turnbull said he did not see or hear the accident, and he did not know it had occurred until he was spoken to by a passenger in the truck. He believed the accident was caused by an error of Judgment -on his part in not allowing sufficient space in which the truck could pass the car. The jury left the Court at 4.6 p.m. and returned at 7.45 with a verdict of guilty and a strong recommendation to mercy. His Honour said he could understand the jury's recommendation in view oi the circumstances of the day on which the accident occurred; but he might find difficulty In acceding to the request because of the accused man's bad record \lthough only 24 years of age, Turnbull >iad a list of 12 convictions, and he was at present In gaol for theft. "Altogether." his Honour added, "he is a very bad citizen."

Tumbull was remanded to appear tor entence.