Panic led to hit-and-run

Press, 15 June 1978, Page 5

Panic led to hit-and-run

A driver, aged 46, charged in connection with a fatal hit-and-run accident at the corner of Fitzgerald and Moorhouse Avenues on April 28 was convicted and remanded to June 21 for a probation report and sentence by Mr P. J. McAloon, S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Oriwa Huhana Ropata was charged with causing the death of Arnold David Boyce by carelessly using a van, failing to report the accident, failing to stop after it, and failing to ascertain whether any person had been injured. He pleaded guilty to all four charges. Detective-Sergeant J. J. Chadderton said that at 6.15 p.m. on April 28 a cyclist, Arnold David Boyce, aged 46, had been riding eastwards along Moorhouse Avenue. As he approached the intersection with Fitzgerald Avenue a van travelling in the same direction had collided with him. The driver of this van had accelerated and travelled through the intersection without stopping.

Detective-Sergeant Chad? derton said the cyclist had died at the scene from head injuries. Extensive inquiries had been made by the police, and later the van had been found. When interviewed at his home later the defendant had admitted having drunk three or four jugs of beer earlier in the afternoon of the accident. He had said he did not know he had collided with a cyclist but had thought it had been with another vehicle. The reason he had not stopped, Ropata told the police, had been because he had panicked, said DetectiveSergeant Chadderton. Ropata was allowed bail of $l5OO. BURGLARY CHARGE Michael Colin Harris, aged 17, uhemployed, was convicted and remanded on bail of $lOOO to June 21 for sentence when he appeared on a charge of burglary and another of theft. On June 1 the defendant and another youth, who was dealt with in another court, broke into the Shirley Intermediate School from where they stole a stereo set worth $345. It was later recovered at the defendant’s flat, but the amplifier and a turntable had been damaged beyond repair, said Detective-Ser? geant Chadderton. Compensation of $6O was sought from Harris. On the charge of theft, to which Harris also pleaded guilty, the Court was told that the complainant had seen a person wearing a jacket which belonged to him and which had earlier been stolen. When questioned by the police the defendant had said he had taken the jacket, worth $250, from a massage parlour “because he had liked the look of it.” RECEIVING OFFENCE On a charge of receiving $25 in cash from Snow Pihema knowing it to have been stolen, Paul Daniel Te Awa, aged 20, a labourer, was convicted and fined $125 and ordered to pay $25 compensation.