Magistrates Court Youth Fined, Loses Licence After “Tragic” Accident

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30045, 1 February 1963, Page 3

Magistrates Court Youth Fined, Loses Licence After “Tragic” Accident

“The consequences of this accident have been tragic, as • girl has suffered injuries which will affect her for the rest other Uf e ," said Mr A. D. Holland when he appeared in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday for John Edward Fattorini, aged 17 a workman. Fattorini was fined £25 and disqualified from holding a driver’s licence for three years on a charge of reckless driving causing bodily injury on October 22. He pleaded guilty to the charge last week, and was appearing for sentence. Mr E. A. Lee, S.M., was on the bench.

The charge related to an accident in Memorial avenue when a truck, driven by Fattorini, mounted the footpath, crashed through a fence and a hedge, and struck a house, moving it three inches off the foundations.

Fattorini had not deliberately set out to be reckless, said Mr Holland. When he started there were three persons in the cab, but he picked up two girls, making the cab grossly overcrowded. Approaching the lights at the corner of Fendalton and Clyde roads and Memorial avenue, Fattorini accelerated to get through before they changed. If he had been in proper control of the truck there would have been no danger, because there was little traffic at that hour of the morning. He did not know what caused the vehicle to get out of control, but apparently he put his foot on the accelerator instead of the brake.

“The accident has already cost Fattorini more than £2OO, and for the rest of his life he will always be conscious of the injuries he has caused to this girl,” Mr Holland said. “He has bought her a radio arid comforts, and has taken her parents to see her regularly in hospital, as they do not have transport.” While the girl remained in hospital Fattorini faced a claim of £5 a day, said Mr Holland. DISQUALIFIED DRIVER "By all the rules I should •end you straight to prison." the Magistrate said to Mervyn Henry Campbell, aged 20, a sawmill hand (Mr B. McClelland). when he pleaded guilty to a charge o fdriving while disqualified on January 4. Campbell was fined £5O. and the period of his disqualification was extended for two years. Sergeant V. F. Townshend said that in June. 1961. Tucker had been disqualified from driving for one year, and in December, 1961, he appeared in Court for driving while disqualified and the period of disqualification was extended for one year. Mr McClelland said it was not a case of a man driving his own car regardless of the law. He was driving his friend's car to help him to get a puncture mended. DANGEROUS DRIVING Kevin Thomas Barrett, aged 19. a freezing worker, was fined £2O. and his driver’s licence was cancelled for two years, for dangerous driving in Papanui road on October 5. His driver's licence is not to be renewed except by a magistrate. Barrett (Mr G. T. Mahon) pleaded guilty. Sergeant Townshend said that Barrett’s car collided with another car near Office road at 625 p.m.. Both cars were extensively damaged. Several persons estimated Barrett's speed before the accident as being 45 miles an hour, and he had passed several cars in the face of oncoming traffic. The area was busy, and Barrett had been drinking. 107 CONVICTIONS Reuben Charles Whitford Darling, aged 48. who pleaded guilty to using obscene language in New Regent street on January 30. was fined £lO, in default 12 days’ imprisonment. Sergeant Townshend said the language was used when Darling was being placed in a police van. Darling had 106 previous convictions. FINED £5 A fine of £5. in default nine days’ imprisonment, was imposed on William Raki. aged 30. when he pleaded guilty to being drunk and disorderly in Cathedral square on Wednes--4 Townshend said that at 8.15 p.m.. two constables were informed that a man was annoying two young women, who were sitting on a seat near the Transport Board s office. , , "The accused had put his arm around each girl in turn and on each occasion he had been told to stop. Raki then lay down on the concrete in front of the girls and said he would harm them if they complained to the Police. The girls were very frightened. Sergeant Townshend said . CHARGES ADMITTED Leon Robert Cameron was fined £lO. and hu dnver’d heence was cancelled for three months, for driving dangerously on December 30. For permitting a person to ride in a dangerous position he was fined £3. and for riding in a dangerous position Brian Alan Borek was fined £3. Both defendants pleaded guilty. Sergeant Townshend said that Cameron drove his car on to the estuary at South Brighton His car became stuck tn the sand and h».d to be pushed Borck jumped on to the rear bumper and Cameron drove on. reaching a speed of 25 miles an hour He broadsided twice and eventually the ear tipped over, throwing Borck clear. INDECENT ACT Pleading guilty to committing an indecent act in a public place on January 21. a man. whose name was suppressed (Mr R. J de Gold!), was convicted and remanded on bail to February 8 for sentence. TRAFFIC CASES In traffic cases brought by the police, conviction were entered and fines imposed as follows: Failing to give way: William Henry Hammett, £5: Hector Matthew Jarden. £5 (no warrant of fitness, £1); John Crew Peach. £8; Lyall William Rhodes. £5; Richard David Aller, £5: Geoffrey Albert Bruhns. £8: Alexander Henry Cade, £8; Cicely Mary Lawson. £4; Robert Swinny, £8; Henry William van Noon. £3: Bruce Charles Campbell Wells, £8; Driving without due care and attention: Wayne Mitchel Arps. £10; John Beme Fisher, £l5; Wilfred Gregory, £l5; lan William Carlile. £7; Peter John Jack on, £3; Neville McKenzie Stewart. £5; Thomas tan Elgin. £ ': Thomas John Fitzgerald. £8; Barrie Aldridge, £8; lan William Musson. £»: Richard Llewellyn Whiteside. £B.

No warrant of fitness: Patricia Margaret Glassey. £1; Terence Patrick Darby. £1: Kevin Kenneth Martin. £5; Anthony Wesley. £2; Terence Raymond

Baker, £3; Herbert Edward Cain, £3. Failing to stop after an accident: Morris Charles Turner, £lO and driver's licence cancelled for three months (driving without due care and attention. £3; falling to ascertain if any Injuries, costs only). Falling to ascertain if any injury after an accident: John Joseph McCormack. £23 (failing to stop, £10; no warrant of fitness. £1; failing to report accident, costs only). Using vehicle without reasonable consideration: Raymond John Tolhurst. £B. Driving when forbidden to do so: Victor John Francis McDonald, £lO, and driver’s licence suspended for three months. Failing to give way to pedestrian on crossing: lan Allan McPherson. £6. (Before Mr A. P. Blair. S.M.) CHARGE DISMISSED A charge against Sturz Barton Barltrop, aged 57. an engineer (Mr G. S. Brockett), of failing to give way to the right, was dismissed. The Magistrate said he was satisfied the complainant had been travelling at an excessive speed, and that trees near the itereection made it unreasonable to expect Barltrop to have seen him in time to avoid a collision. Barltrop’s car was involved in a collision with one driven by Johannes Louis Steenhart, at the intersection of Gambia street and Grants road on November 12. FINED £2l For supplying false information to the police, Roger Owen Jones, aged 27. a rubber worker, was fined £5. He was fined £l5 for driving without due care, and £1 for having no warrant of fitness. He pleaded not guilty to the first two charges arid guilty to the third. Evidence was given that on November 18, Jones, who had his father's car, hit a lamp standard in Deans avenue. When Clice arrived he claimed he d been in Hagley Park with a girl, had heard a crash and returned to find the car damaged. He claimed it was struck by another vehicle. The police found skid marks on the road from Jones’s car. and broken seat supports showed that someone had been in the car when the accident occurred. Marcus John Jones, owner of the car, was also fined £1 for having no warrant of fitness for the vehicle. “DROPPED CIGARETTE" He had dropped a lighted cigarette and was groping for it when he struck the parked car, said Robin Longstaff, aged 29, a joiner (Mr R. G. Blunt), who pleaded not guilty to a charge of driving without due care and attention in Harrows road on November 4. "In the interests of safety your first duty in the circumstances was to stop," said the Magistrate fining the defendant £4 on this charge, and £1 for having no warrant of fitness. CHARGE DISMISSED A charge against Charles Frederick James Lepper, aged

57, a bus driver (Mr R. E. Wylie), ot failing to give way to the right, was dismissed. On November 17 a bus driven by Lepper, turning from Worcester street into Fitzgerald avenue, was involved in a collision with a car coming from the right. Lepper, who pleaded not guilty, said he saw the ear about 150 yards away and considered he had ample time to turn. The car, however, was travelling at excessive speed, and was to the wrong lane. The driver took no evasive action and used his hand brake when attempting to stop. CHARGE REDUCED

A charge of dangerous driving, against Arthur John Inns, aged 17 a tractor driver (Mr A. F. Wilding). was reduced to one of driving without care after the Magistrate had heard the evidence. Inns, who pleaded not guilty to the original charge, changed his plea after the amendment, and was fined £5. Constable R. Samuels said Inns rode his motor-cycle about 35 miles an hour close behind cars parked outside the Post Office in Cathedral square on November 17, and then narrowly missed a cyclist as he rode across to the Tivoli Theatre after passing a car on the wrong side.

He had gone to sleep during a long drive and awoke to find he had crashed his van into a lamp standard in the safety zone on the Main South road near Wigram aerodrome, said John Burgess Franklin, aged 26, a driver, in a statement produced by the police. Franklin, charged with driving without due care, did not appear. He was fined £7.

FAILED TO STOP David John Hutton, aged 17. a plumber was fined £5, and his driver s licence was suspended for three months, for failing to stop after his motorcycle ran into the rear of a car which had stopped at a pedestrian crossing in Riccarton road on November 25. He did not appear. (Before Mr H. Rosen. S.M.)

FINED £5 10s On a charge of opening a car door in a manner likely to cause Injury in Madras street on November 16, Leonard Hampton Duffield, a restaurant proprietor, was convicted and fined £3 10s. On a charge of failing to report an accident within 24 hours Duffield was fined £2.

He pleaded not guilty to both charges, and was represented by Mr B. L. Stanley. Errol John Gearry said In evidence that he was cycling north in Madias street about 4 p.m. when the defendant knocked him off his cycle as he was getting out of his car. The witness said he suffered a cut over an eye. FINED £4 Annie Kathleen Caughley, a lecturer, was convicted and fined £4 on a charge of driving without due care and attention on December 6. She pleaded not guilty, and was represented by Mr P. H. T. Alpers.