CONVICTION QUASHED

Press, Volume CIV, Issue 30802, 14 July 1965, Page 16

CONVICTION QUASHED

Driving Case Appeal (N.Z. Press Association) AUCKLAND, July 13. . A 25-year-old driver, who was fined £SQ and banned from driving for 12 months for careless driving, causing the death of a four-year-old boy, had his appeal against conviction and fine upheld in the Supreme Court in Auck'and today by Mr Justice Gresson.

His Honour said that he was not satisfied that the Crown had proved its case beyond reasonable doubt. The hearing against the driver, Frank Robert Francis, had been before Mr A. A. Coates, S.M. Mr T. J. Doole submitted that the Magistrate had been wrong in drawing the inference that Francis’s driving had been careless because his speed was, in the circumstances, excessive. He referred to Crown evidence which said that the accident could not have been avoided if Francis had been travelling at only 5-10 miles an hour.

For the Crown, Mr G. V Hubble said that the accident had happened in a State Advances housing estate, and one should normally expect children to be about in such an area. In addition, he said that the ice cream van was clearly visible, and one would also expect children to be around such a vehicle. Speed, in such circumstances, he submitted, should be reduced to a bare minimum.