GAOL TERM UPHELD

Press, Volume C, Issue 29674, 18 November 1961, Page 15

GAOL TERM UPHELD

Appeal Dismissed

A sentence of seven day's gaol imposed on a former ship's engineer on a charge of driving while under the influence of drink or drugs a t Lyttelton was upheld by Mr Justice Richmond in the Supreme Court yesterday, when the man appealed against the sentence. The appellant was Roy Harold Ritchie, aged 48 (Mr B. J. Drake). The gaol term had been imposed in the Magistrate's Court on November 6, when Ritchie pleaded guilty to the offence. Mr Drake submitted that the Magistrate had misdirected himself in stating that there was no worse combination on the road than that of an intoxicated driver and an unregistered car. The appellant had had his car in storage while at sea. and it was parked in a street in Lyttelton on the day of the offence. The appellant decided it must be shifted, and had only turned it on the roadway when he had a minor collision with a parked car and was then approached by a constable. Mr Drake said there was now further evidence of the appellant’s State of health which was not nut before the Magtetaete. The appellant had never been convicted of a driving offence before, the distance he drove was only a few yards, and the accident which occurred was a minor one. The case was one in which a fine should have been imposed. Mr Drake said. Mr C. M. Roper, for the Crown, said the section

under which the appellant was charged provided for up to three months’ gaol. The present sentence was not manifestly excessive. The appellant did not try to find the owner of the other car, and told the constable who arrested him that he had intended to drive home. His Honour outlined a number of factors in the case which he described as “discopcerting.” He said he did not feel justified in interfering with the gaol sentence. Borstal Upheld An appeal by a 15-year-old youth against a sentence of Borstal training imposed in the Children’s Court in Nelson on a charge of converting a power-cycle on August 5 was dismissed.