RIDER OF HORSE CHARGED

Press, Volume LXXXV, Issue 25767, 31 March 1949, Page 7

RIDER OF HORSE CHARGED

ALLEGED INTOXICATION AT OXFORD INFORMATION DISMISSED BY MAGISTRATE “~ I “The weight of evidence is against the constable, therefore the cage is dismiss-' ed," said Mr Rex C. Abernethy, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court at Rangiora yesterday, after hearing a charge of being intoxicated in charge of a horse in Oxford on March 22, preferred against Howard Bunn. Constable W. J. Theyers conducted the case for the police, and Mr E. D. R. Smith appeared for Bunn, who pleaded not guilty. In his evidence, Constable Theyers said that on the evening of March 22 he had an anonymous telephone call from a son who said that a man was riding a horse in a drunken state along Church street. When he investigated he found the defendant riding a horse along the road, and from where he was he could see he was under the influence of liquor. He approached him, and noticed that he appearedto be almost asleep. The reins were held loosely in his hands, and he was rolling from side to side on the horse. He took hold of the bridle and turned the horse round. When he had gone some distance the defendant had tried to run him down. He then pulled him off the horse and left him lying on the road until he returned from the police station, where he had taken the horse. When questioned by Mr Smith as to the size of the horse, the constable replied that it was a big three-quarter draught. He agreed that the defendant had a bad leg and could not. walk far without the aid of a stick. Dulcie Valetta McCaw, giving evidence for Bunn, said that on the evening in question she was walking along the street with heir children between 6.30 and 6.45 p.m., when she met Bunn. He was riding a horse, and she was convinced there was nothing in his manner to indicate that he was anything but sober. He accompanied her for a distance of some 10 to 12 chains, during which time his speech was perfectly rational. He rode well, and had control of the horse. Francis Dawson said he met Bunn in the bar of a hotel between 5.30 and 5.45 p.m. At that time Bunn was perfectly sober. He offered him a drink, which was refused. He agreed with Mr Smith that a man with a bad leg would have a tendency to roll on a horse which had a wide girth. He knew Bunn to be an accomplished horseman. Bunn said it was not long after he had left Mrs McCaw that Constable Theyers appeared and took his horse by the bridle and turned him round in the opposite direction to which he was heading. At first he thought it was a joke on the part of the constable, but when the constable showed no sign of stopping he asked him what the joke was. The constable then pulled him off the horse in such a way that he was injured. The constable disappeared with the horse and he was about to get a taxi when the constable reappeared and drove him to the station. To the constable, Bunn said that he had arrived at the hotel shortly after 12 noon. He left at 6 o’clock that evening. He had been playing cards all afternoon. During the afternoon he would have consumed about six glasses of beer.