Magistrate’s Court Fined £30 On Fatal Negligence Charge

Press, Volume CII, Issue 30063, 22 February 1963, Page 7

Magistrate’s Court Fined £30 On Fatal Negligence Charge

“It does seem that the consequences of this collision are out of proportion to the degree of negligence,” said Mr A. P. Blair, S.\l., fa the Magistrate's Court yesterday when fining Margaret Couper Jenkin, a housewife, £3O on a charge of negligently driving a car and causing the death of Edna Renee Hayward on December 4. Jenkin’s driving licence was cancelled for one year. Jenkin, who was represented by Mr R. A Young, pleaded guilty. About 3.50 pm. on December 4 Miss Hayward and another woman were cycling abreast south-east along Wrights road, said Sergeant B. D. Read. They were keeping to the correct side of the road and Mias Hayward was almost on the extreme edge of the sealed surface.

Suddenly Miss Hayward’s cycle was struck from the rear by a car, driven by Jenkin, about 70 yards north-west of the Hillmorton street corner. Miss Hayward was thrown on to the bonnet of the car

and carried along for some 90ft

The car, with Miss Hayward on the bonnet, veered to the left and the left wheels ran along the gutter and struck a culvert, throwing Miss Hayward on to the footpath. She suffered head injuries fa the fall and died almost instantly. The weather was fine and visibility was good. At the time of the collision Jenkin’s mother was a passenger in the front seat of the car. She was being returned to an institution after being taken out for the day. Jenkin said her mother had slumped over, said Sergeant Read.

The defendant appeared in court for the first time in her life, Mr Young said. She had been driving for 28 years and had never been charged with any traffic offence or even spoken to by a traffic officer because of her driving. It was abundantly clear the cyclists were on the correct side of the road and close to the edge of the bitumen. They were both completely blameless for what occurred. As • Mrs Jenkin drove along her mother slumped over on to her when she lost consciousness or fell asleep Mrs Jenkin was momentarily distracted or had her arm knocked. "Mrs Jenkin has been remorseful to a degree that has affected her health,” Mr Young said. “She has not driven • the car since. She is painfully aware that she caused the death of this unfortunate woman and realises she must lose her licence for a substantial period. Her husband is a clerical worker and she has no income of her own.”

OBSTRUCTED POLICE .Saying he could not have lived with his conscience If he had handed a girl over to the police, Maurice James Hogg, aged 44, a workman, pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing the police on February 20. He was fined £5.

Sergeant V. F. Townshend said a constable went to 44 Tennyson street to find a girl who was wanted by the police. Hogg answered the door and said the girl did not live there. After further questioning he said the girl had left flat 5. The constable entered the flat but did not And the girl. The constable returned later and found Hogg and the girl he was looking for drinking vodka in another flat. Hogg had 60 previous convictions.

STOLE PEACHES Charged with stealing two peaches valued at 5d on February 20, George William Goodge, aged 51, unemployed was convicted and fined £l. He pleaded guilty to the charge. DANGEROUS SPEED “A bad and dangerous piece of driving.” the Magistrate said when convicting Robert Frederick Alexander Smythe, aged 27, a workman (Mr W. F. Brown), on a charge of driving at a speed which might have been dangerous on December 20. Smythe was fined £25 and his driver's licence cancelled for one year. He pleaded guilty to the charge. Sergeant Read said a constable saw Smythe take a bend on the road to Halswell at an estimated speed of 60 miles an hour. The car failed to straighten up and after veering from side to side on the road, struck a power pole, breaking the pole and the wires. CHARGES DISMISSED A charge against Allan Herbert Streeter of opening a car door so as to cause injury to another person on January 24, was dismissed. Streeter (Mr R. J. de Gold!) pleaded not guilty to the charge. The Magistrate said the section of the act was aimed at motorists who opened car doors without looking for cyclists. He said he found no reason to disbelieve the defendant who said he saw the cyclist but a gust of wind blew the door open as he was holding it. A charge against John Danielson (Mr R. G. Blunt), of driving at a dangerous speed round Cathedral square on January 6 was dismissed. Danielson pleaded not guilty. The Magistrate said the evidence did not support the charge. REMANDED Charles John Morrison, aged 31, was remanded on bail to February 25 on a charge of being idle and disorderly in that he had insufficient lawful means of support on February 20. Charged with peering into a dwellinghouse window by night on February 20. a man, whose name was suppressed, was remanded on bail to March 1.

Maude Emma Keepa Kemp, aged 23, was remanded on ball to February 25 on a charge of committing a breach of probation by failing to report. TRAFFIC CASES

In traffic cases brought by the police, convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows:

Driving without due care and attention: Alan Hibbard, £7; Francis George Howe, £8; Paul Arthur Stanton, £7 (no warrant of fitness, £1); Nola Wong, £2; Peter Nicholas Hetterley, £8 and driver’s licence suspended for three months except in the course of his employment (no warrant of fitness, costs only); Roderick McNeil, £3; Eric James Allan. £5; William Robert Prebble, £2; John Arthur Rhodes, £6; Jan Julius Alexander van Royen, £3; Ashley Avon Andrews, £lO. Failing to give way: Melville Cecil Hollings, £5; Arthur Charles Spray, £5; John Simms Connell, £5; Frank Orwin Hllgendorf, £5; George Hughes, £10; lan Darcy Mawson, £5; Eric Paterson Reid, £5; Andrew Fraser Russell, £7; Stephen Mounsey Smith, £3. No driver’s licence: Gloria Radonovich, £5 (no warrant of fitness, £1); Anthony John Howard. £5 (no warrant of fitness, £2); Robert Douglas Wilkinson, two charges, £5 and £7 10s (no warrant of fitness, two charges, £2 and £3); Patrick Nutira, £5. No Warrant of fitness: Lawrence lan Geddes, £3; Michael James Griffen. £3: Graham Peter Jack, £2; Allan Bruce Clark, 10s; Joby Wayne Gallacher, £2.

Driving in a dangerous manner: David Stephen Rickard, £lO and driver’s licence cancelled for one year. Opening car door causing injury to another person: Gordon Maitland Martin, costs only. Failing to stop at traffic lights: George Stables, £B. Failing to stop at sign: Albert Pounder Andrews, £6. Failing to give way at sign: Raymond Gordon Maynard, £4. (Before Mr H. Rosen, S.M.) ADJOURNED So evidence as to the cause of death might be given by the pathologist, Dr. P. A. E. Smith, proceedings against John Kevin Fitzpatrick, aged 36, a farm

manager (Mr W. F. Brown), charged with negligent driving causing death, were adjourned until this morning after prosecution evidence had been heard. Evidence showed that on November 2, about 4 pun., Fitzpatrick, driving south on the Main North road, collided with a car which was making a U-turn across the road at Kainga. The driver of this car, an elderly man, Ernest Henry Eastwood, died in Princess Margaret Hospital some days later from hemorrhages in the brain. TRANSPORT DEPARTMENT CASES In traffic cases brought by the Transport Department, convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows: — Exceeding 30 miles an hour: Gordon Selwyn Surtit, £7 10s; George Edward Simpson, £4 10s; Haakon Sdgard Bergh, £5; Donald Joseph Maham, £3; Bnaddon StnelUe, £4 (no driver’s licence, £3 10s); Peter Alexander James Aitken, £5; Gerald Charles Baldwin. £8 10s; Raymond Charles Boswell, £7 10s; Daniel Arthur Brown, £7 10s; Gordon James Churdh, £7 10s; Gerald Bruce Clarke, £7 10s; John Warren Gillespie, £4 10s; Ivan Lyndsay Palmer, £2 10s; Tietie Lubbers, £4 10s; Brian Lynch, £7 10s; David John McNaughton. £7 10s; Stanley Trevor McLedsh, £4 10s; Clive Henry Manson, £5; Brian Vincent March, £5 10s; Petrus Johannes Scheliekens, £5 10s; Thomas Arthur Tait, £5 10s; Brian George Thompson, £6 10s; Raymond Frederick Thompson, £4 10s; Roderick Tohill, £5 10s; Jury Huniperd Wlanoa, £4 10s; Barry White, £4 10s; Ralph Edward Wilson, £5 10s. Exceeding temporary speed limit: Colin James McKay, £6 10s; Francis Joseph Morgan, £5 10s; Edward John Moyle. £5 10s; James Clarence Owen, £5 10s (no warrant of fitness, £2 10s); Barrieo Desmond Vuillermln. £6 10s; Raymond Vincent Sim, £6 10s; Donald Clere Watt, £6 10s; Barrie Clifford Whitaker, £6 10s.

No driver’s licence: Graham Brasen, £2 10a (no warrant of fitness, £2 10s); Warren Ronald

Burke, £3 Ms (no warrant ei fitness, £3 10»); Christine Edwards, £2 10s; femes Patrick Gorman, £4 10s (an warrant ot fitness, £2 10s); G*en Murray Herbert, £4 Ma (no warrant oi fltnem. £3); Rktwcd Undray Merrick, £3 10s, second change £3 10s (no warrant of ftfaera. £4 10s; second charge, £3 10s; doubte parking, £1 10s); Sydney James, £3 10s; Terence Desmond Bradstniw, £3 10s. Afatag to stop at sign: Paul Van Smith. £3 10a; Ellen Agnes Doyle, £3; Jack Bailey, £4 10s; Douglas Burns Cromb, £4 10s (permitting use of unlicensed vetakte, £7 IDs, no warrant of fitness, £3 10s); Kevin Ford, £4; lan Lindsay McAuley, £4 10s. Pasting ah fcejgtttadtrat wMte lines: AMstadr Mafttand Munro, £7 10s and driver’s licence suspended tor three months. Exceeding 35 mUcs-on-bour in heavy vehicle: Stanley, Alexander Beattie, £8 10s. Using unregistered vehicle: Oruseppe Dudley Gargivta, £3 10s, second charge, £1 10a (permitting unlicensed driver to use vehicle. £4 10s). Exceeding axle weight: New Zealand Express Company, Ltd., £3: R. R. Mee, Ltd.. £25; Walmak Sawmills Ltd., £25; Ryan Bros., Ltd.. £2O. Exceeding heavy traffic licence: New Zealand Express Company, Ltd., £5; second charge, £3; B. G. Richardson, Ltd., £7 10s; R R. Price, Ltd., £25. Insufficient lights: Richard Anthony Collier, £3 (failing to carry licence, £4 10s; no warrant of fitness, £2 10s); Roger Desmond Donaldson, £3 10s. Crossing against lights: Margaret Hester Gregoe, £8 10s; George James Hanafin, £4 10s; Veronica Mary Jones, £3 10s; Basil Walker, £6 10s. Carrying pillion passenger contrary to licence: Arthur James Ellsworth, £3 10s; Mervyn Rex Thompson, £4 10s; Gilbert Leslie Jones. £3 10s. Failing to carry ”L” plates: Kevin George Jones, £1 10s. Proceeding from stop sign before way was clear: Walter Earle Jones, £5. No warrant of fitness: Brian Vivian Davis, £8 10s.