Magistrate’s Court DRIVER FINED £l5; LICENCE CANCELLED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29680, 25 November 1961, Page 15

Magistrate’s Court DRIVER FINED £l5; LICENCE CANCELLED

A collision which occurred at what was described as “one of the worst intersections in the city” at 7.30 p.m. on August 26 resulted in Clifford John Charles Clarke, aged 21 (Mr A. D. Holland) being fined £l5 and having his licence cancelled for 18 months when he appeared before Mr A. P. Blair, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. He pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving at a speed likely to be dangerous. The accident, which was observed by four witnesses, occurred at the intersection of Ferry road and Barbadoes street. Evidence was given that Clarke’s van, driven southwards along Barbadoes street, had collided with a car being driven towards the city along Ferry road. Although Clarke’s vehicle had the right of way, it was contended by the prosecution that had his speed been reasonable the other vehicle would have had sufficient time to clear the intersection.

Mr Holland submitted that as the accident happened at night it would have been very difficult for the witnesses to calculate the speed of the defendant’s van. The evidence they gave was weak, he said, and there was no proof the defendant was driving at an excessive speed. He had been impressed by the evidence of at least two of the witnesses, said the Magistrate. They had got an impression of speed which could apparently be relied on. “I think that from the evidence the defendant was going at a very fast and dangerous speed,” he said. WILFUL DAMAGE

John Cecil Ashley, aged 19, was fined £5 and ordered to make restitution of £ll 10s when he pleaded guilty to a charge of wilfully damaging a taxi door, at Sumner, shortly after midnight yesterday. Ashley was described by Sergeant B. D. Read as a seaman off a visiting overseas warship. Missing the last train to Lyttelton on Thursday night, Ashley, with a friend, took a taxi from the Christchurch railway station to go to Lyttelton, said Sergeant Read. He said when passing through Sumner the defendant vomited in the taxi. Asked by the driver to pay for cleaning, Ashley said he had no money and refused to pay. He then hit the driver and kicked a dent in a door of the taxi. He had to be forcibly restrained from doing more damage to the taxi, Sergeant Read said. On his own behalf Ashley said he could not remember very much about the incident. IDLE AND DISORDERLY “Unless you two have some sense and stop the aimless sort of life you have been living, it is quite obvious you have a pretty unhappy future,” the Magistrate told Margaret Lynette Webster, aged 22, and Margaret Alexs Meredith, aged 22 (Mr R. G. Blunt). Both were appearing for sentence on a charge of being idle and disorderly, and both were admitted to probation for one year. Mr Blunt said that Meredith had been “picked up" as she got off the steamer express, and she had in her possession £1 in money and a family benefit book showing £3 due to her. It was a fairly technical offence, he submitted, and one that could be dealt with by means of a fine. LICENCE CANCELLED A constable on a motorcycle chased two cars down the full length of Lincoln road at 11.25 p.m. on October 8 at 50 miles an hour and made no impression on them until they reached Halswell road when he stopped only one car, the other having disappeared, said Sergeant Read. Appearing on a charge of dangerous driving, John Adrian Clarke, aged 18, a fireman, was fined £l5 and his driver’s licence was cancelled for 18 months. On a further charge of not having a warrant of fitness he was convicted and discharged. Clarke pleaded guilty to both charges. “MISSED BY A DAY” The day before Mervyn Douglas Hart, aged 18, a factory hand, was due to have his driver’s licence returned to him, after having it cancelled for six months, he was involved in an accident at the corner of Canon and Manchester streets, on September 23, said Sergeant E. S. Tuck. He appeared before the Court on charges of driving while disqualified, failing to give way to the right, and having no warrant of fitness. He pleaded guilty to all charges. On the first charge he was ordered to pay costs and his driver’s licence was cancelled for another year; on the

second he was fined £5; and on the third, £l. REMANDED Arpad Levay, aged 38, a railway worker, was remanded on bail until November 30 on a charge of indecently assaulting a female on November 23. On a charge of breaking into a house in Mansfield avenue, St. Albans, on November 20 and committing theft, Hokimate Rapana, aged 21, a machinist, was remanded in custody until November 30. Opposing an application for bail, Sergeant Read said that there were further charges pending against her. On a joint charge of theft of clothing, valued at £2O 17s 6d, on November 22, Henry Gordon, aged 32, and Vincent John Wright, aged 39. were remanded to November 30. Both were granted bail. TRAFFIC CASES On traffic charges brought by the police, offenders were dealt with as follows: Driving without due care and attention: Marjorie Reka Ferrier, £4 (no warrant of fitness, 10s); Robert Arthur Crosado, £4; James Gribben Burke, £3 (no driver’s licence, £5, no warrant of fitness, £2); Dennis Robert Matheson, £3; Allan Gerald Smith, £lO (no warrant of fitness, £2); David Restall Henderson, costs only; Janette Elizabeth Mac Kay, £4. Failing to stop at sign: Ernest Albert Gillman, £5 (no warrant of fitness, £1 10s). Failing to give way: Malcolm Wilson Gilpin, £5 (no warrant of fitness, 10s); Gerard Bennett Jack, £5; Kenneth Winter Robinson, £4 (no warrant of fitness, 10s); Clifford John Tonkin, £5; Arthur Leonard Wootton, £5 (no warrant at fitness, £2). No warrant of fitness; Colin Clifford Hurrell, £2; Pamela Mary Kennedy, £1; Wilfred Desmond King, £1; Lester Joseph James, £2; David Nitioniho, £2; Alan Keith Perkins, £2; James Edward Dodd, £1 10s; John Albert Arthur. £1 10s. Having wrong class of driver’s licence: Albert Jou3 (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.) WITHOUT DUE CARE Trevor John Sheriff, aged 20, a workman (Mr P. Mulligan), was fined £2 when he appeared and pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving without due care and attention. CHARGE DISMISSED A charge of failing to give way to the right against Basil Augustus Birch, aged 38, a manufacturer (Mr B. J Drake), was dismissed. Birch pleaded not guilty. The Magistrate said the accident would not have occurred had the complainant not been travelling at such a speed on his motor-cycle. (Before Mr E. J. Crutchley, S.M.) CHARGE DENIED A fine of £3 was imposed on Mervyn Henry Campbell, aged 19, a sawmill hand, on a charge of driving without due care and attention in Bealey avenue on October 2 He pleaded not guilty and was represented by Mr R G. Blunt. A further charge against Campbell, at driving while disqualified, to which he pleaded guilty, was adjourned for one week for a probation officer’s report and sentence. CIVIL CLAIM Judgment for £45 2s Id was given for Lester Raymond Barwell, a farm labourer (Mr R. G. Blunt), in a civil claim for wages and holiday pay due to him while he was employed as a farm hand during November. 1960 Barwell’s original claim was for £lOl 18s Cd. The defendant company was represented by Mr D. J. Hill The plaintiff was ordered to pay costs.