INTOXICATION CHARGE

Evening Post, Volume CXXII, Issue 21, 24 July 1936, Page 11

INTOXICATION CHARGE

MOTORIST'S DENIAL , EVENTS AFTER PARTY. Pleading not «uJlly to a charge o£ being intoxicated in chnrgo of a motorcar in Lambton Quay, Humphrey James Coulter, a marine engineer, aged 22, appeared before. Mr. E. D. Mosley, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today. Mr. J. A. Scott appeared for the accused, and Senior-Sergeant J. Dempsey conducted the prosecution. Constable Wilson said he saw a car standing outside the office of the New Zealand Cab Company at 1.45 a.m. on July 4. The accused came out of the office, well under the influence of liquor, and admitted that he was in charge of the car. Witness observed that the left front mudguard of the car was dented, the bumper bent, a headlight hanging by a wire, and a parking light, broken. At first the accused said the accident had happened several days ago, and then offered to drive the constable to the police station. The accused admitted driving the car, and said he had come down from Kelburn. They then walked to the station. The other man, Philpott, who accompanied the accused, said he had not driven the car, and was not a licensed driver. Two empty half bottles of whisky, an empty wine bottle, a bottle half-full of ginger ale, and glasses were found in the car. The accused admitted having three drinks. Cross-exam >.ed by Mr. Scott, witness said that when he saw the car the engine was running, and the two men were in the office. Philpott was quite sober. Coulter explained that he had gone into the office to leave a note to the employees of the cab company to take the car home in the morning. He said he had been to a private dance, and was taking two girls home after it to a house of which he did not know the locality. He was told to go down a street in Kelburn. and struck a post before he knew anything. "When accosted by witness he staggered and was talkative, and his breath smelt strongly of liquor. Dr. B. E. Wright said he examined Coulter at 2.15 a.m. o^the morning in question. His walk was unsteady, he was talkative, his speech was slightly thick, and his pulse was 115. Witness came to the conclusion that the accused had enough alcohol to make him unfit to drive a car. Cross-examined by Mr. Scott, Dr. Wright said that a man could, drive a considerable distance in difficult circumstances and still be a risk in a motor-car. A man's pulse could -be raised by nervousness or shock! The accused made a statement of his movements to witness, but which witness could not clearly remember. Sergeant J. Coutts and Constable Gunn both gave evidence that the accused was intoxicated when he was hi the watchhouse. Cross-examined, the former said that the accused admitted having three whiskies and ginger ale. He explained that he had run into, a fence in Kelburn, the whereabouts of which he did not exactly | know. He then drove down to the [ office of the New Zealand Cab Company, went in, and left a message for them to take the car away and have repairs carried out. He also asked for three different doctors to be called, but none of these was obtainable. EVIDENCE FOR DEFENCE. ' Mr. Scott said thatthe evidence was briefly that the accused had been to a party in Kelburn which lie left shortly after 1 a.m. His car was a .new one, and he was'accompanied by Philpott and two girls. He manoeuvred his car out in. difficult circumstances. Owing to a mistake with the gear lever when turning in order to get out: of a blind' street the car struck a I fence. The.only expert evidence on the intoxication charge, was that of Dr. A. Wright, and this was not as definite as similar evidence brought in other cases. . ■ ~ In evidence, the accused said he was! a driver of seven or eight years' ex-: perience. When he left the dance, I which.was at the Training College, he had had three or four drinks, no more. He remembered a whisky, a port, and another whisky,: the whiskies being taken with.ginger.ale. The last he had' about 11.30 p.m. He turned round to i get out of Kowhai Street, was directed I to where the girls lived, and on turning to get out of a blind street, mistook his gears, went forward instead of back, and hit the fence. He explained "that he left the note for the taximen, whom he knew, because the j car had to be repaired by the firm from which he had bought it a few weeks before, and he had no garage. He did not know the place of the accident. Of the three doctors telephoned ■at his request, he remembered that one would not come unless there was an accident, and another had influenza.' Cross-examined by Senior-Sergeant Dempsey, he admitted taking half a half-bottle of whisky and the ginger ale to the dance, and explained the presence of the other bottles by saying that others at the danca had used the car to drink in. John Philpott, who was with the accused at the dance and in the car, corroborated his evidence. (Proceeding.)