SMALL BOY’S DEATH

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXVIII, Issue 20457, 18 January 1941, Page 2

SMALL BOY’S DEATH

STRUCK BY MOTOR CAR t ■ ■;" :te - - ■' ; FATALITY NEAR VVAIROA LEARNING To RIPE CYCLE ’ (Special to. the.. Herald.) WAIROA, this day. 'A statement that.he considered it dangerous for parents to allow young children to learn to ride bicycles on public roads, was made by the coroner, Mr. V. E. Winter, at the in--quest on • the death of. Thomas Maraki, aged seven, adopted son of Mr. and Mrs. J. Walker, Frasertown road, who was killed when struck by d motor -car- driven by Mr. Joseph Basil Williams,, near .the Wairoa racecourse on December 21. • After hearing the evidence the coroner returned a verdict that the hoy was ‘killed on the Frasertown road on Saturday, December 21, when lie was struck by a motor car driven by Mr. Joseph Basil Williams. Mr. M- H. Tonkinson appeared for the driver .of the car, .and Sergeant H T. Moore conducted proceedings on behalf of the police. Dr. R. B. Grey said he found the boy’s body lying' practically in-the middle of the road. The child was suffering from a compound fracture of the skull and fracture of the right femur. Death, in his opinion, would have been instantaneous. *' rj ; : No Sign of Liquor

Witness said that from a short con r versation with the driver ; of '” the vehicle he gathered that the boy -had Walked in front of the car. The driver was extremely agitated and witness saw no evidence of liquor. Gross examined by Mr! Tonkinson witness said that he understood thas the child was travelling in the same direction as the car, . / Robert Lewis Baty, a motor driver employed by the Te Reinga Transport Company, stated that a- green car passed his vehicle travelling about 30 m.p.h. After the car had. passed Witness saw a bicycle, travelling more on its wrong side of the road, coming towards the car. Shortly after he saw the bicycle bounce off the left-hand side of the cqt, and. tbe body of a small boy rolling from underneath the car. Witness pulled up immediately, and the car driver. asked: “What’s the best thing to do?”

Witness: I said go to the police. The driver of the car, added witness, was perfectly sober. The boy looked as if he could not ride a bicycle properly and he was not, sitting on the seat. .

Learning .To Ride

Valentine Brown, a' taxi-driver, gave evidence of having seen a small boy on- the Frastertown road who he thought was learning to ride a bicycle. Tbe cyclist was riding all over the road and witness sounded the horn of his car. He had to slow down and go well over on his righthand side of the road to pass the cyclist; “I .considered the boy not only a danger to himself, but a danger to others on the road also,” stated witness.

Pearl Finucane, a waitress, stated that a young man, Joe -' Williams, called for her at the restaurant and she accompanied him to Ardkeen and back. They left Wairoa at 3.15yp.m. and after travelling some distance, she noticed a small boy about two chains in front of the car, riding a bicycle. He appeared to be : going in the same direction as the car.- He had one foot one the pedal and was pushing himself along the road with the other, foot. .The cyclist was running all over the road and the next thing she felt was a bump when the car struck the, boy. , Cross-examined by Mr. Tonkinson, witness said that the driver sounded the hprn when he was nearly up to the boy, Who was in the middle of the road. When the horn sounded the boy Went towards the right, but later came back to the middle of the road again: j Witness ‘did "not see -the' car actually hit the boy,- and she was not’quite certain what actually took place. .. .

Being Taught To Ride

.Humphry Walker, aged 15,- an adopted soli of Mr. J. Walker, said Thomas 'Maraki was also an adopted son of Mr. Walker. His father had bought the deceased a bicycle but he was too small to ride it and witness had often, tried to teach him. He gras .teaching the boy a few days prior to his death. Witness said that it was impossible for Thomas Maraki to be riding the machine on the day of the accident.

Joseph Basil Williams, aged 19. a labourer residing at Ardkeen, .'driver of the car said the boy was riding the bicycle with his leg through the bar.. . The child was on his wrong side of the road and was travelling towards Frastertown. The bicycle, after being struck by the car, was thrown to the left of the road, and tlm boy more or less into the middle of 'the road. Witness said that to his knowledge the car did not pass over the boy, and he could not account for the bicycle being struck on the left-hand side when the cyclist swerved into the. left.

George Powell, a motor mechanic employed by the,- De Luxe Service Station, glave evidence of having tested the car's brakes which were in moderately fair order.