CORONER’S COURT Girl of 15 died when tractor overturned

Press, Volume CXV, Issue 34031, 20 December 1975, Page 16

CORONER’S COURT Girl of 15 died when tractor overturned

A 15-year-old girl who was one of three young persons riding on the mudguards of a tractor at Hawarden suffered fatal injuries when a wheel went into a hole on a hillside causing the tractor to overturn, the Christchurch district Coroner (Mr E. B. E. Taylor) heard at an inquest yesterday. The girl was Jillaine Beryl Pearce, of Hornby, who was found to have died from severe abdominal Injuries while on the wav to hospital by ambulance. The accident occurred on November 16. at Heathstock Downs, Hawarden. Miss Pearce and two cousins were on a tractor being used to mow grass on a steep hillside. The driver of the tractor Murray George William Taylor, a farm labourer, said that he was doing a left-hand turn up the hill when the right wheel went into a hole Miss Pearce, who had been sitting on the left mudguard, was pinned by the safety frame when the tractor overturned. Help had to be fetched to get the tractor off her. Mr Taylor said that he now realised the foolishness of having had the young people on the tractor. Constable H. White said that the grass on the hill had been lush and green; it appeared the tractor might have slid into the hole. YACHTING ACCIDENT Alisa Doris Coombes, aged 40, died of asphyxia from inhalation of food contents and sea water when the yacht she was in overturned in the Estuar; on October 11, the Coroner found. The woman’s husband. Mr 11. G. Coombes, said that they had been taking part in a yacht race on the Estuary. Both had life- ! jackets, although his wife had I donned an extra jersey because of the wind and uncomfortable sailing conditions. ' During the race, his wife had I developed asthma, and had said she wanted to withdraw from the irace. "It was as though she was 'talking through clenched teeth,” : witness said. The boat then tipped to port,

and the two went backwards into the water. Witness described how after righting the yacht it overturned again, and his wife, who had been hanging on to the boat, went into the water face down. Mr Coombes said he lifted her head and gave mouth-to-mouth resuscitation, although the waves were coming over them; but he could not revive her. His wife had suffered ~from asthma since the age of 17. Dr A. J. M. Campbell said that he had been called to the Mount Pleasant Yacht Club on October 11. Mouth-to-mouth resuscitation and cardiac massage were tried on Mrs Coombes. but she had not responded. SCUFFLE IN HOSPITAL Henry Franks, aged 73, of Christchurch, was found to have died six days after hitting his head when he was pushed by a patient at Sunnyside Hospital. He died in hospital on September 14. the cause of death being broncho-pneumonia and congestion of the lungs associated with a fractured skull and haemorrhage. Detective M. W. Loughlin said that Mr Franks and another patient had had an argument ovor table nankins. The other patient pushed Mr Franks in the chest causing him fo strike his head on a projection. On November 18. a charge of manslaughter brought against the other patient had been dismissed by a magistrate because of conflicting evidence, Detectiv Loughlin said STABBING Gregory’ Slack, aged 18. was found to have died as a result of injuries suffered when he w r as stabbed by Nigel Wayne Kerr during an incident in Fitzgerald Avenue on December 24, 1974. The Coroner found that Mr Slack died as a result of a haemorrhage from a perforated abdominal aorta. Detective Senior-Sergeant R. jA. Meikle said that two men had been arrested as a result of the i incident. Nigel Wayne Kerr and David Alexander Thompson. Kerr had been sentenced tc six years imprisonment after being found guilty in the Supreme Court on July 1. 1975, on a charge of manslaughter, An application for a retrial was granted, but Kerr was again found guilty of manslaughter and sentenced to imprisonment for five years and a half. Thompson had been acquitted on a charge of manslaughter after a Supreme Court trial.

CAR HIT POLE Gary Pinn, aged 73, of GlenI tunnel, was found to have died of multiple injuries suffered when a car in which he was a passenger hit a power pole on the Hororata Road on May 16. Constable M. Deazley said that the accident happened about 11.15 p.m. A car driven by Brian George Hardaker had failed to negotiate a bend, and had skidded along the grass verge and gravel and into the pole. Mr Pinn had been found in the car with a door pushed against his chest. He was not wearing a seat belt. The driver, Mr Hardaker, had been found lying outside the car. A blood-sample taken from Mr Hardaker after the accident had shown a blood-alcohol concentration of 145 mg. witness said. On November 7, Mr Hardaker had been convicted in the Magistrate’s Court on charges relating to the accident. FALL FROM WINDOW Albert Cyril Perkins, aged 72, of Christchurch, was found to have died from severe head injuries suffered when he apparently fell from a first-storey bathroom window at Calvary | Clinic on October 18. Elanore Jane Knox, a nurse at the clinic, said that she had found Mr Perkins’s body lying below the window when she went to go home about 7 a.m.

I Constable M. P. A. Freer said that the window was more than 3ft above the floor and had a bath underneath it. Since the accident, the hospital had fitted safety devices to the windows. Dr L. Ding, a consultant psychiatrist, said that Mr Perkins had been receiving treatment for depression. He had improved, and had been due to go out on a visit the day he died.