Surgery a factor in fatal collision

Press, 12 May 1984, Page 5

Surgery a factor in fatal collision

Nelson reporter Evidence of speed, the possibility that the driver of one vehicle was “skylarking” and medical evidence that this driver’s judgment could have been impaired by neurosurgery, was given in the Coroner’s Court at Nelson in two sittings. Last week the Nelson coroner, Mr W. D. Hunter, heard all but medical evidence into the deaths of three people, one of them a pregnant woman, in a headon collision at Atawhai, about 7km north of Nelson, on March 17. After hearing medical evidence from the Nelson pathologist, Dr S. Clark, Mr Hunter found that Matthew Robert Kingston, aged 16, the driver of one car, died of multiple injuries, including serious head injuries. The passengers in his car, Timothy Harley Hargreaves, aged 16, died from multiple injuries in-

eluding a ruptured aorta, and Laurette Ann Knight, aged 19, pregnant with a 30week unborn child and a passenger in the second car, died from multiple injuries. The Coroner said the pathologist had found no evidence of alcohol in the post-mortem examinations. He also held that Philip Knight, the driver of the car in which his wife had died “contributed in no respect at all to the disaster. What happened was completely outside and beyond his control.” He described the crash as the worst traffic disaster with which he had been involved. He said that “although no apparent in evidence” a motor-cyclist following closely behind one of the vehicles passed between the two vehicles as they sprang apart after colliding. “The motor-cyclist was extremely fortunate indeed to be living,” he said. In his summary the Coroner said that Dr Clark’s

evidence disclosed that Mr Kingston had undergone neurosurgery some time before the accident and that he also suffered from an illness, both or either of which would have impaired his judgment. “The pathologist records that this is somewhat of a conjecture on his part but I think it is sufficient to be recognised by the Court that the judgment of Kingston may well have been impaired at the time of the accident,” said the Coroner. Last week evidence was given by witnesses that Kingston was driving his car at a speed estimated at more than lOOkm/h and that he appeared to be “skylarking” by sitting low in the seat. The car was being driven in and out of the road centre’s white lines. One witness said he gained the impression that the vehicle was not handling too well. The driver of the other vehicle, Mr Knight, and his daughter Olivia, aged 2, were both admitted to Nelson Hospital. Constable G. W. Beale who was called to the accident and who carried out further investigations, said he established that Kingston was not wearing a seat belt, and Hargreaves probably was not wearing a seat belt. Mr Knight, in a statement read by Constable Beale said he was not wearing a seat belt, nor was his daughter seated between them in the front seat, and he was not sure if his wife was wearing a seat belt.