SUPREME COURT Farmer Guilty On Driving Charge

Press, Volume CIII, Issue 30511, 5 August 1964, Page 9

SUPREME COURT Farmer Guilty On Driving Charge

A jury in the Supreme Court yesterday found Ivan Henry Turner, aged 45, a fanner, guilty of driving under the influence of drink or drugs on June 2 and causing injury.

They found him not guilty of failing to stop after an accident and not guilty of failing to ascertain whether anybody had been injured in that accident.

Mr Justice Wilson was on the Bench. Mr C. M. Roper appeared for the Crown and Mr C. B. Atkinson appeared for Turner. Turner was remanded In custody for sentence on Thursday.

In evidence Turner said he and his employee Desmond Atkinson Graham, on June 2, had gone to Motukarara and then to the Tai Tapu Hotel, where they arrived about 1 p.m. They stayed there till about 4 p.m. and had had between 15 and 20 five ounce beers.

When he left the hotel he was all right, said Turner. They had then gone to the Black Horse Hotel where they arrived about 4.30 p.m. and left about 6 p.m. Except for 20 minutes he had spent the whole time in Graham’s company and drank about eight five ounce beers and he had been all right when the}’ left the hotel, said Turner. He had then driven along Halswell road to Graham’s home in Dunbars road. The heater in the car was going as the windows were fogging badly. Heard Bumps Travelling along Halswell road, which was rough, he heard bumps in the car. On the night of June 2 there were no bumps different from any other time. In his statement to the police he had said he was fairly drunk when he left the Black Horse Hotel, said Turner. By fairly drunk he meant not very drunk, and had felt he could control his car.

While travelling along Halswell road he could not remember his passenger, Graham, saying anything out of the ordinary nor could he remember Graham referring to a particular bump. Turner said he did not swerve to avoid a parked car nor did he hit a boy on a bicycle. He had not seen a boy on a bicycle nor had he hit a boy on a bicycle and driven on.

Turner said he would have stopped after hitting a dog, let alone a boy. His normal driving speed was between 28 and 32 m.p.h. and being intoxicated would slow him down. He had not changed his speed along Halswell road and later in the vicinity of Dunbars road, he had not looked back when a motor-cycle came up behind them.

Woken by Constable

After arriving at Graham’s he had gone inside but later returned to his car in the driveway and gone to sleep. The next thing he remembered was a constable waking him up, said Turner. When woken he had felt stupid. With the constable he had looked at the car where the constable had pointed out damage to it Mr Atkinson: Did you strike a boy on a bicycle? Turner: No, I did not. Cross-examined, Turner said he had limited sight in his left eye but had no difficulty in judging distances from his right eye.

There had been really no reason for the drinking spree

on the afternoon of June 2, and he had not had a meal before going to the Tai Tapu Hotel.

In all he had had about 28 beers that afternoon and it was possible because of his intoxicated state when examined that he told the doctor when examined that he went to the Tai Tapu Hotel at 3.30 p.m. Where he said in his statement that he remembered nothing after passing the Hoon Hay shopping centre he meant he remembered nothing unusual. Where the statement said his mind was a complete blank and he did not remember anything he did not mean that at all. On examining part of the car’s fender with a magnifying glass he admitted that some smears on it could have been paint smears. Similar colours were on the rear mudguard of the bicycle, but the material on the mudguard looked like transfers, he said.