MAGISTRATE’S COURT Charge Dismissed With Costs Against Police

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30769, 5 June 1965, Page 23

MAGISTRATE’S COURT Charge Dismissed With Costs Against Police

Costs of £2 2s against the police were awarded to Ralph Edward Austin, aged 20, a painter (Mr S. G. Erber), when he appeared before Mr K. H. J. Headifen, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday’ on a charge of careless driving, which was dismissed. Austin pleaded not guilty to using a vehicle carelessly on the Estuary road beach. South Brighton, on February 21. Mr Erber submitted that

Austin’s car overturned because a rear wheel fell off. This was a mechanical defect, of which a driver could not have reasonably been aware. The defendant and another driver had been motor racing earlier, and it could be concluded that they were racing their cars on the beach, said the Magistrate. However, a constable had volunteered the information that the entire incident took (place on a portion of the beach where cars did not [usually go. It was covered at high tide. Two other prosecution witnesses said Austin’s car was travelling only 20 to 30 miles an hour before it overturned, and his explanation of a rear wheel falling off had not been contradicted.

It was not a case of larrikins driving on a crowded beach, without regard for other people’s rights, said the Magistrate. Austin and his companion had driven in a lonely area where people did not usually go. Applying for costs, Mr Erber said that Austin had lost a day’s work in travelling from Ashburton to appear. The prosecution could have obtained the full facts of the case from its own witnesses. FINED £8 John Reuben Voice, aged 29, a labourer (Mr M. J. Glue), pleaded not guilty to failing to give way to the right at the interesection of Avonhead and New Brighton roads on January 9. He was convicted and fined £B. DISMISSED Gavin Selwyn Middleton, aged 30, a storeman (Mr R. J. De Goldi), pleaded not guilty to using a vehicle carelessly in Grove road on April 8. The charge was dismissed. The Magistrate found there was no evidence to establish the defendant as the driver of the offending vehicle. FINED £6 Noel Murphy, aged 51, a factory foreman (Mr R. G. Blunt), pleaded not guilty to using a vehicle carelessly on the Main South road at Templeton on May 1. He was convicted and fined £6. DISMISSED Geoffrey Lloyd Beveridge, aged 22, a rotary machinist (Mr L. G. Holder), pleaded not guilty to failing to give way to the right at the intersection of Waltham road and Moorhouse avenue on April 11. The charge was dismissed. He was satisfied that in the circumstances Beveridge did all that could possibly be expected of a reasonable motorist, the Magistrate said. (Before Mr E. A. Lee, S.M.) RECEIVING Peter Lloyd Machirus, aged 19, a carpet fitter (Mr M. J. Glue), was convicted on a charge of receiving a car rug valued at £2 10s on April 26.

He was remanded to June 14 for sentence.

The Magistrate said he did not believe Machirus’s explanation of how the rug came to be in his possession. Nor did he accept the evidence of Machirus’s witnesses, who, he said, failed completely to impress him as witnesses’ of truth. Their standard of truthfulness was about the same as their standard of morals, which was not very high, said the Magistrate. FORGERY Maurice Ruakaka Rangimoekau, aged 20. a steel placer, appeared for sentence on a charge of forging an entry for £4l in a Post Office Savings Bank pass-book on May 17. He was released on probation for 18 months. Rangimoekau said he committed the offence because lie wanted to obtain money to buy his discharge from the Army. He was surprised the accused had stooped to serious crime to obtain a few pounds, said the Magistrate. “Your record is not a bad one, by any means.’’ He would release the accused on probation to give him the chance to show he would not repeat his behaviour. (Before Mr H. J, Evans, S.M.) FAILED TO REPORT Although the injury to. a passenger in a car which overturned at Balcairn on April 3 was only slight, it was an injury within the meaning of the law, said the Magistrate, fining Barry Ronald Mitchell, £7 for failing to report an accident in which a person was injured. Mitchell told the Court that his passenger's injury was only an abrasion, and he did not consider he was obliged to report it. REMANDED Anthony Francis Commons (Mr R. G. Blunt) was remanded on bail to June 10 on a charge of being found unlawfully on enclosed premises on June 4. Desmond Bruce McDonald was remanded on bail to June 10 on a charge of breaking and entering a chicken hatchery at 182 Beach road on June 4. PROBATION Mayne Douglas Churchwarden aged 23, a salesman (Mr G. R. Lascelles), was put on probation for two years and ordered to make restitution of £136 when he appeared for sentence on two charges of burglary. The Magistrate refused to suppress his name. TRAFFIC CASES The following were fined on traffic charges brought bv the police: Failed to give way: Jesse Thomas Haymes, £8; John Fraser Stewart, £S; Gordon Morgan. £5: Wilfred Francis O’Callahan, £6; William Holmes £lO- - Douglas Wilkie. £8; Leslie Henry Arthur Ellis, £10; Bruce Richard Brookes, £8; Alfred Henry Dalton, £8; Jack Leslie Dougall, £8: Edward Fielding. £10; Douglas George Hancock, £B, and ordered to attend traffic lectures; Richard lan Rosewarne, £7; Gvsbertus Antonius Wiilemse, £10; Arthur Burton, £B. Careless use: Peter Angus Skilling, £7; Robert Douglas Stokes’, £lO (no warrant, £3); Alister lan Shuttleworth, £25. Opened car door in way liikelv to cause injury: Alistair Geoffrey Spence, £1 10s