FATAL ACCIDENT AT BELFAST

Press, Volume LXXXIX, Issue 27148, 18 September 1953, Page 11

FATAL ACCIDENT AT BELFAST

NEGLIGENT DRIVING CHARGES MAN COMMITTED FOB TRIAL Frederick William George Kettle, aged 45, a -petrol bowser attendant, pleaded not guilty in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to charges that he negligently drove a motor-car on the Main North road at Belfast on August 1, thereby causing the death of William Arnold Loraine Downes, and also thereby causing bodily injury to Ross Hamilton Wilson.

Mr Raymond Ferner, S.M., committed Kettle to the Supreme Court for trial on these charges and allowed him bail. Kettle also pleaded not guilty to a charge of being intoxicated while in charge of a motor-car. The Magistrate dismissed this charge. An inquest into the death of Downes was held in conjunction with the hearing of the charges and the Magistrate, as Coroner, returned a verdict that Downes died in the Christchurch Public Hospital on August 2, the cause of death being respiratory failure associated with cerebral injuries and a fracture of the skull, the injuries being sustained when Downes was walking in a southerly direction on the Main North road at Belfast about 6 p.m. on August 1 and was struck by a motor-car driven by. Kettle. Sub-Inspector J. C. Fletcher conducted proceedings for the police, and Mr R. Twyneham appeared for Kettle. Dr. D. A. Cotton, a house surgeon at the Christchurch Public Hospital, said that Downes was admitted to the hospital on the evening of August 1. He was deeply unconscious and had serious injuries consistent with his having been struck by a car. He died the following day. Dr. C. T. B. Pearson, a pathologist, said the cause of Downes’s death was respiratory failure associated with cerebral injuries and a fracture of the skull. Norman- Patrick Alcorn, Government analyst at Christchurch, said he examined specimens from the body of Downes. There was no alcohol in the blood, but .15 per cent, in the urine. Constable W. McD. Ramage, police photographer, nroduced photographs of the scene of the accident on the Main North road and of Kettle’s car. Constable's Evidence Constable J. Thompson, of Belfast, said he was driving his car south along the main road at Belfast about 6.15 p.m. on August 1 and found there had been an accident Kettle was kneeling on the ground, pushing on Downes’s stomach, apparently trying to give first aid. Downes was unconscious. He asked Kettle what caused the collision and he said: “They had no lights on their bicycles, constable. I did not see them. I did not know I had hit anyone until my wife told me.”* Witness asked Kettle to stand up. He did so and nearly fell over. His face was very red, his speech was thick and he smelled strongly of liquor. Kettle said he had had tw6 beers that afternoon. ‘ ‘I considered the accused was intoxicated and not fit to be in charge of a car,” said Constable Thompson. “I arrested him and took him to the Central Police Station. On the way there he said he was worried about the in J iured men and said he . wished he had had no liquor that afternoon. Later he admitted he had six whiskies at the Amberley and Ashley hotels that afternoon.”

Constable Thompson said that when he stopped at the scene of the accident, Wilson was lying further along the road. Downes and Wilson had been walking south along the road and on their left side of it when the accident happened. The accident happened about 190 feet north of where Kettle’s car stopped, said Constable Thompson in reply to Mr Twyneham. The impact occurred towards the extreme east of -the road. Part of a denture was found in the middle of the road but he saw no evidence to indicate how it got there. He took Kettle to his home before taking him to the Central Police Station. They arrived at the police station at 6.40 p.m. Kettle’s conversation on the way in was reasonably intelligent. There was not a great change in Kettle’s condition from the time he arrested him until he left him a short time after they reached the police station. Doctor’s Certificate Senior-Sergeant A. B. Collinge, who was on duty at the Central Police Station when Kettle was taken there at 6.40 p.m. on August 1, said it was obvious that Kettle had consumed liquor and he admitted he had had six whiskies between 4 p.m. and 6 p.m. “In my opinion he was not under the influence of alcohol in the legal sense and was quite fit to be in charge of a car. I had him examined by Dr. F. L. Scott and the doctor’s certificate is on the lines of my opinion,” said witness.

Constable K. A. Munro said he saw Kettle in the watchhouse at the Central Police Station at 6.40 p.m. on August 1 and considered he was intoxicated. Ross Hamilton Wilson, a cook, who was with Downes when the accident happened, said the two of them left the Belfast Hotel at 5.55 p.m. and walked along the west side of the main road going south. They crossed to the east side after looking to see that no traffic was coming and continued walking in a southerly direction. Downes was walking on the cycle track and witness was on the gravel side of him. Wilson said he had no recollection of what happened to him or to Downes. They were both sober.

Constable E. G. Smith said that Kettle made a statement on the evenof August 1. This statement said that Kettle, his wife and a friend went out for a drive on the afternoon of August 1. He had four whiskies at Amberley and two at Ashley and was returning along the Main North road to Christchurch at a speed of 35 to 38 miles an hour. He was well to his left because of a stream of oncoming traffic and had his headlights dipped. His wife said she felt a bump. He had not seen cyclists or anyone. He applied his brakes, stopped and went back to where a man was lying on the road. He tried artificial respiration on this man. He did not know he had hit another man until Constable Thompson told him. He could offer no explanation for not seeing the two men before the car hit them. Mr Twyneham said that, on the evidence, it seemed impossible that Kettle could be convicted on the intoxication charge. The Magistrate said, in view of the conflicting evidence, it could not be said that it was established as a certhat Kettle was intoxicated at the time charged. The information would, therefore, be dismissed. In his opinion there was a prima facie case to answer on the other charges.