£l5 Fine For Negligent Driving Causing Injury

Press, Volume XCIII, Issue 27910, 6 March 1956, Page 6

£l5 Fine For Negligent Driving Causing Injury

MAGISTRATE’S COURT

John Reginald Savill, aged 28. a I freezing worker, pleaded not guilty in I the Magistrate’s Court yesterday to I charges that on February 19 he drove a motor-car in Gilberthorpe’s road, Hornby, while he was under the in- , fluence of drink, and that he negligently drove a motor-car thereby causing injury to Hugh George Wylie. Mr L. N. Ritchie, S.M., dismissed the first charge after hearing the evidence for the prosecution and submissions by counsel for the defence. On the second charge the Magistrate convicted Savill, fined him £l5 and suspended his driver’s licence for three months. Sub-Inspector C. H. Reardon prosecuted, and Savill was represented by Mr B. J. Drake. The case for the police was that Sergeant E. H. Clark and Constable W. J. Stickings went to Gilberthorpe’s road at 3.30 a.m. on February 19 and found that a motor-car had run into the back of a milk truck, which was properly lighted. One side of the car was torn off and a man. who had been a passenger in the car, was lying badly injured and unconscious at the side of the road. Savill, the owner of the car. was found in bed at his home in Gilberthorpe’s road and had to be wakened. In reply to questions he only said: “I have nothing to say.” The sergeant and constable considered he was unfit to drive because of liquor and arrested him. Dr. F. L. Scott examined him at 5.20 a.m. and found he was not unfit to drive. His own doctor examined him at 6 a.m. and was of that opinion also. Evidence was given by Sergeants Clark and C. Smith. Constables G. D. Swan and Stickings, Eric Maxwell Timms, a milk vendor, and Hugh George Wylie, a carpenter. Mr Drake submitted that the evidence on the first charge did not warrant entering a conviction. Savill’s conduct was consistent with his having suffered concussion in the accident. Nor was the accident due to drink. The case came down to a simple one of negligent driving. The defence to that was that the milk truck was not stopped far enough to its left of the road and was in the way of traffic in an unlighted street on a dark night, said Mr Drake. Savill did not see the truck until too late. When he was seen by the police he could not remember any details of the accident. He had gone home and his wife could not make out what he was trying to tell her. He had an injury over his right eye and was shocked and hysterical. She bathed his face and got him to bed. The Magistrate said there was not sufficient evidence to support a conviction on the first charge and it 1 would be dismissed. There would have to be strong evidence for the defence on the second charge. Evidence for the defence on the second charge was given by Savill and by his wife Rowena Bell Savill. The Magistrate held that the milk truck was properly parked and that it had more warning signs at the rear than were required by the regulations. He did not believe Savill’s story that he did not see the truck. By the skid | marks, he must have seen it when he was 90 feet away. “I think he was travelling too fast. There is ample evidence to prove negligence. He is lucky indeed that his passenger is fortunate to be alive. It is a miracle that he is,” said the Magistrate. I Savill was fined £1 for double parking in Cathedral square on February 17 and £1 for not having a warrant of fitness. MOTORIST ON PROBATION Keith Frederick William Gilligan'Kingsley, aged 21, a manager (Mr R. P. Thompson), pleaded guilty to a charge that on March 3 he drove a motor-car on Lincoln road while he was under the influence of drink. He was fined £l5. His driver’s licence was cancelled and he was disqualified from obtaining another for 18 months. He was admitted to probation for 12 months on special conditions that he takes out a prohibition order and abstains from liquor for that period. Sub-Inspector C. H. Reardon said ; that about 6.20 p.m. on March 3 j Traffic Officer Hammett was riding a ' motor-cycle along Lincoln road when • a car passed him. This car went on ! and passed another car. In doing so it | went on to its wrong side of the road I and followed a weaving course. The I traffic officer stopped the car and when ■ the accused got out he was very unsteady on his feet. The traffic officer i arrested him and took him to the Central Police Station. Dr. F. L. Scott examined him and certified him as unfit to drive a motor-vehicle.

Mr Thompson said that the accused held a fairly responsible position for

| one of his years. A party was to have : been held on Saturday evening to ' celebrate his engagement He and a ; man went to buy food for the party ! and they went to a hotel where the ' accused took too much liquor. ■ Mr, Thompson asked the Court to take into account the accused’s inexperience as a. drinker, the excitement of the engagement, his age, and the long hours he had been working. If he was sent to prison, he would have to close for a week the business he managed. DISORDERLY BEHAVIOUR Lyall Robert Lewis, aged 24, a truck driver, William John Simmons, aged 21. a contractor, and Thomas Edwin Simmons, aged 34. a plasterer, each pleaded guilty to behaving in a disorderly manner while drunk in Lincoln road on March 4. Each was fined £5. Lewis pleaded guilty to a further charge that he used obscene language in Lincoln road and he was fined £5 on that charge. Sub-Inspector C. H. Reardon said that Constables French and Gilligan were notified at 1 a.m. on March 4 that there was a brawl in Lincoln road near the mental hospital. They found a number of men by a motorcar and one man was sweeping up glass. Two were putting a drunk man. whose face was covered with blood, in a car. One man made off but a constable had no trouble catching him. The third man was sick. The thre men had had too much to drink and there had been a free fight. Lewis used the language in the complaint when a man was apparently going to stop the fight. CONVICTED AND DISCHARGED Spencer Heaton Ellis, aged 48. a carpenter (Mr G. S. Brockett), who pleaded not guilty to a charge of assaulting Nellie Ellis at New Brighton on February 27, was convicted and discharged. REMANDED Thomas William Graham, aged 42. a baker (Mr N. G. Hattaway), was remanded to March 12 on a charge that on March 3 he drove a motortruck in Moorhouse avenue while he was under the influence of drink. He was allowed bail of £25 and one surety of £25. Ronald Donald, aged 44, a horse trainer (Mr B. S. McLaughlin), ; remanded to March 12 on a charge ; that on March 4 he drove a motorI car in Cashel street while he was under the influence of drink. He was allowed bail of £25 and one surety of £25. Michael John O’Brien, aged 22. a machinist (Mr J. G. Rutherford), was remanded to March 12 on a charge that on February 29 he stole a camera valued at £55. the property of William John Daniel Hugh McFaul. Basil Joseph Gould, of Hobbs street, Timaru, was remanded to March 8 on a charge that on February 29 he obtained from Chester Motors. Ltd., a motor-car valued at £785 by falsely representing that cheque for that amount was a good and valid one. Barry Dixon Howe, aged 17. a seaman (Mr J. G. Leggat), was remanded for one day on a charge of being absent without leave from an overseas ship at Wellington on January 9. Ernest James Johnston, aged 40. a steward, was remanded to March 12 on charges of deserting from an overseas ship at Auckland on July 29, 1952. and of obtaining £57 10s from the New Zealand Farmers’ Co-opera-tive Association of Canterbury, Ltd., on February 28, 1956, by falsely representing that a cheque for that amount was a good and valid one. Charles John Williams, aged 25, a welder <Mr B. McClelland) was remanded to April 9 when charged with remaining in New Zealand for a longer period than provided for in a permit issued to him, contrary to the provisions of the Immigration Restrictions Act 1908. Bail was renewed in the sum of £lO and one surety of £ 10. (Before Mr Rex C. Abernethy. S.M.) HOTEL LICENSEE FINED Giving a reserved decision, the Magistrate fined Denis John Cremin, licensee of the Royal George Hotel. £lO on a charge exposing liquor for sale after hours on November 19. He dismissed charges of selling liquor and opening his premises for the sale of liquor after hours. A charge against James Smythe of supplying liquor was dismissed. William Joseph Daly, Sylvester John Adamson. Gertrude Oakley and Gertrude Adams were each fined £2 for being on the premises after hours. A similar charge against Donald Kenneth Clunes and Francis Edward Adams was dismissed. Mr R. P. Thompson appeared for Cremin, and Mr D. W. Russell for Francis Adams and Gertrude Adams.