KILLED ON RACE-DAY

Dominion, Volume 23, Issue 219, 12 June 1930, Page 12

KILLED ON RACE-DAY

Pedestrian Rim Down DRIVER CONVICTED By Telegraph.—Press Association. Hamilton, June, 11. On a charge of negligently driving a car so as to cause the death of Norman Stephen Bradley on April 12, a middleaged farmer named August Herman Demler appeared in the Supreme Court to-day. The Crown’s case showed that the fatality occurred on the first day of the April races at Te Rapa, when Bradley, who lived nearby, and was walking home „ along the grass margin of the road, had stopped off the grass to cross the road when he was knocked down by Demler's car, and killed. It was charged against Demler that he failed to keep a proper look-out, and that the brakes of his car were defective.. In evidence, it was shown that the car travelled 35 or 40 yards before pulling up. , A son of accused said deceased stepped out suddenly in front of the car. No brakes in the world would have saved Bradley. He alleged that the car was shifted some distance after the accident out of the way of the race traffic. Counsel for the defence submitted that deceased, who was walking in front of the car, stopped suddenly, and it was impossible to avoid hitting him. The jury, after a short retirement, brought in a verdict of guilty, with a recommendation to mercy.