FELL UNDER TRUCK

Gisborne Herald, Volume LXXV, Issue 22623, 28 April 1948, Page 4

FELL UNDER TRUCK

MAORI GIRL’S DEATH PLAYING IN GRAVEL PIT (S.R.) OPOTIKI. April 27. A distressing fatality occurred at Torere Bay late on Saturday, when a Maori child was run over by the rear wheel of a gravel-laden truck and killed instantly. The victim of the accident was: Manu Huia Toka. aged 8, daughter ot Mr. Tommy Toka, Torere. The child was playing with others in a gravel pit from which a truck driven bv Mr Ronald Smith was operating. Mr. Smith had filled his truck and prior to pulling out of the pit had warned the children to keep away from the vehicle. He had difficulty in making headway through the loose. gravel, and made several stops in the first 150yds of his drive. Some of the children followed the vehicle, and at one stop Manu Toka climbed on to the side of the truck, slipping and falling beneath the rear left-hand wheel while the truck was in motion. The driver was not aware of the accident until some of Manu’s playmates ran up beside the cab and pointed back, in obvious distress. He stopped the truck and went back, to find the body of the child in the wheelrut, the doublewheel having passed over her chest and head. It was evident that death must have been instantaneous. At an inquest presided over by Mr. J. T. Merry, coroner, a verdict of accidental death was returned. The coroner added that there was no evidence of neglect on the part of the driver of the vehicle.