High count no count

Press, 14 April 1978, Page 1

High count no count

A man has had a conviction for driving with a blood alcohol concentration of 345 mg set aside by the Supreme Court because the original traffic officer in the case did not personally collect the blood sample from the hospital. The appellant is Douglas Bruce Buchanan (Mr C. B. Atkinson), and the respondent, the Ministry of Transport (Mr B. Stanaway). Mr Justice Roper, in a written decision, said that the non-compliance with the strict terms of the Transport Act was fatal to the prosecution, and the appeal must be allowed. The conviction was set

aside, and the sentence quashed.

However, the point was of sufficient importance to justify a grant of special leave to appeal, and he would be receptive to such an appeal, said his Honour. The offence was alleged to have occurred on May 25, 1977. The blood sample taken showed a bloodalcohol concentration of 345 mg. The ground for the appeal was that strict compliance with the act had not been proved, in that there was no proof that the specimen was delivered by the hospital authorities to the officer who asked for it, in compliance with section 58D (6) of the act.

“In terms of that subsection, the only person who may request a specimen from the hospital is one who has good cause to suspect,” said his Honour.

The officer who collected the specimen from the hospital in this case could have qualified to ask for the specimen by reading the reports of others on the case, but he had not done so, said his Honour. The request was a valid one, but even though it had been signed by the officer who suspected the offence, there had not been strict compliance with the subsection of the act, he said.