NEGLIGENCE—CAUSING DEATH

Evening Star, Issue 23093, 20 October 1938, Page 23

NEGLIGENCE —CAUSING DEATH

CLERGYMAN ACQUITTED [Per United Press Association.] WELLINGTON, October 19. After a retirement of 50 minutes a jury to-day acquitted Douglas Blomfield Malcolm, a minister of religion, aged 46, of negligent driving causing death. The prosecution arose from a collision on Kelburn Parade on August 18 between a motor car driven by Canon Malcolm, and a cycle ridden by Stanley Hvid, a grocer’s assistant, aged 16. The Crown Prosecutor, _Mr W. H. Cunningham, in bis outline of the .case, stated that it was a peculiar case in that no eye- witnesses of the collision were to be called by the Crown. The only person who could give an account of how the collision occurred was the accused himself. The accident occurred in Salamanca rpad near the University College. There Was no suggestion that the accused was driving fit an unreasonable speed. The marks on the road and the position of the car after the accident showed that the collision had occurred to the right of the centre line of the road.. In a statement to the police the accused had said he believed that the cyclist, with the suit in his eyes, did not see the car until it was too late to avoid a collision which the accused tried to avoid by swerving to the right.