SON AS INTERPRETER

Evening Post, Volume CXXIV, Issue 14, 16 July 1937, Page 16

SON AS INTERPRETER

NEGLIGENT DRIVING

UNUSUAL ACCIDENT

The unusual spectacle or a boy, born and going to. school in New Zealand, acting •as interpreter for his father, was seen in: the. Magistrate's Court yesterday afternoon, when Salvatore Mpnastra; was -charged with negligent driving in Wake'field:Street..The boy interpreted .the , evidence , into Italian for his father and asked witnesses questions, in .English on. his father's behalf. . There were, several unusual circumstances in the case. Mr. A. R. Cooper prosecuted.-. Bertie Hatchet,.a waterside worker, said that he was ''sailing along Wakefield Street at about five knots an hour" on his bicycle, when he felt a bump'from the rear/ followed by another bump, and more and more bumps. He threw himself from the bicycle, and while sitting on the roadside he saw his bicycle continue on with the car still pushing it. A parked motorrcar stopped the bicycle and the car, the two vehicles -.being interlocked-, with ■ the bicycle crushed be- j tween. . • ; "The.defendant came back all upset," said the witness.. ."I could not understand him, but caught the word 'hurt.' I told him that he was more, hurt than I was." The bicycle, Bertie Hatchet said, was pushed about. 60 feet.. The accident had happened right m front of him ashe sat on the. roadside. Mr. .Stilvyell, S:M., to Mr. Cooper: It must be rather, unique for a man to get- off, sit"by, and, watch his accident happen. . , Two. other cyclists gave evidence. Percy Wall '. said: "We 'hopped' oft our bikes when we saw what, was going by. The driver never thought of his brakes. He: pushed. the other cyclist. along, holding the steering wheel, with one hand, waving the other arm through the window opening, ai?d. shouting, 'Ringa da bell, ringa da bell.'". , . .'■ ' . , ' . ' Mr.'Stilwell:. Why?. ■'. ■ ' '. Witness:, I don't know." It was sust "Ringa' da bell." ' The. driver, did not stop. He just' kept on' going. He would ' not have . stopped at, all -. if a parked-car .had not. been-in-the way. ■. Frank Scott also, gave evidence about "Ringa, da bell." ■' , The , defendant gave evidence .with the assistance of .his son. With two cyclists, a riderless cycle, and the rider sitting on the roadway, he said, he did not know which way to turn. Mr. Stilwell: But before that the first cyclist felt the bumping, and it kept on bumping, so he de'eided to get off. Your father collected this bike. Why didn't he stop? ; The defendant did not know why he did not brake. The cyclist had. come in front. , In answer to, a. question by Mr. Stilwell, he said that he had been driving for a year. The defendant was convicted of negligent driving and ordered to pay costs, £2,35. . ,-'', . \ ■ ■ For lailing_to give way to, right-hand traffic, Samuel Hirst was convicted and ordered to pay costs, 245, by Mr. W. F. Stilwell, S.M., in the ' Magistrate's Court today, .