Two hurt when man lost control of truck

Press, 4 May 1978, Page 4

Two hurt when man lost control of truck

The courts

After leaving the Lady Wigram Trophy races, a young man lost control of the truck he was driving and it rolled over, seriously injuring two persons, the Magistrate’s Court was told yesterday. Nicholas Urquhart Weston, aged 21, a farmer, pleaded guiky to a charge of causing bodily injury by carelessly using a motor vehicle on Wigram Road and one of injuring Jonathon Tucker while driving with an excess blood-alcohol level. He was sentenced to five months periodic detention and disqualified from driving for two years by Mr B. A. Palmer, S.M. Detective sergeant J. J. Chadderton said that on January 29, Weston and some friends had gone to the Lady Wigram race meeting in a truck. They had placed hay bales, couches and lengths of . wood on the deck of the truck to get a better view of the races. The defendant and his friends drank beer during the day and left the races at about 6 p.m. The defendant was driving the van and some of his friends were sitting on the back, said Detective Sergeant Chadderton.

As he was driving down Wigram Road, the defendant lost control of the truck on a sharp bend and it veered on to the grass verge, hitting five members of the Tucker family who were walking on the side of the road. Both Mr and Mrs Tucker were knocked to the ground and the truck came to rest against a pole. When the police arrived, Weston admitted that he had been drinking. He had a blood-alcohol level of 278 mg.

Mr Tucker received serious head injuries from the accident and was off work for several weeks. His wife received serious cuts to her head said Detective Sergeant Chadderton. The Magistrate told the defendant that this offence was a particularly serious one of its type and had he not been a first offender, he would probably have beer sent to prison.

(Before Mr K. W. Frampton, S.M.) PERJURY

Three persons who gave false evidence in a Court hearing were convicted of perjury charges when they appeared in Court yesterday.

Fay Jocelyn Turvey, aged 33, Stewart Cameron Turvey, aged 34, and Maxwell John Granger, aged 19, pleaded guilty to charges of perjury and were remanded to the Supreme Court for sentence on May 11. Mr and Mrs Turvey were remanded on bail. Granger, who is serving a term of imprisonment, was remanded in custody.

The charge against the Turveys was that, being witnesses in the hearing charges brought against Stewart Cameron Turvey, they committed perjury by falsely saying under oath that at the time of the alleged offences the motor vehicle was being driven by Maxwell John Granger. Granger was charged with committing perjury by falsely saying under oath that he

was the driver of the car at the time of the alleged offences.

Sergeant R. A. Cook said that an officer saw Stewart Turvey driving a motor vehicle along a street in Shirley on March 30, 1977. Granger had also been in the vehicle.

When stopped, Granger had said he was driving the vehicle. Turner had later been charged with driving while disqualified, having an excess blood-alcohol count, and refusing to accompany a traffic officer.

Sergeant Cook said a defended hearing had been held on May 20, 1977 and Turvey gave evidence on oath that he had not been driving the vehicle.

Granger had given evidence that he had been driving the vehicle and Fay Turner had given evidence that Granger had been driving when the pair left her on the date of the alleged offence. A police inquiry into the possibility of perjury followed the hearing and all three defendants later admitted giving false evidence.