CAR FOUND IN DITCH

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 13 April 1934, Page 5

CAR FOUND IN DITCH

WOMAN DRIVER CONVICTED. CHARGE OF INTOXICATION. , teiettiupu •- I’rtwvr* amhm:l*wio. ) GREYTOWN, April 12. A young married woman of Masterton appeared before Messrs. J. Jvierlian and H. G. Carter, J.P.’s, in the Greytown Police Court, to face charges of Jiaving been intoxicated while in charge or a motor car, and of having driven a motor car without being the holder of a driver’s license.

A plea of guilty was entered by the defendant, wiio was represented by Mr O. C. Marsaclc. A fine of £lO, witn £T is medical expenses, and 10s costs, was imposed on the intoxication charge, and an order was made for the suppression of the name. On the second information defendant was convicted and discharged. Constable A. Gregor, of Greytown, told the court that, on the evening of Easter Monday he received information that there was a car in the drain at Ahikouka, and that he proceeded to the spot. He found that the car had been driven by the defendant, who wao accompanied by two men. One of the men stated that the car belonged to him, but that the woman had been driving. The defendant wa s unquestionably in an intoxicated condition, and the two men appeared to be under the influence of liquor. The defendant stated that she had been driving. It was exceedingly fortunate that none of the persons in the car had been injured, and that, with the heavy traffic on the road at the time, no other accident had. occurred.

It was stated by Mr Marsack that defendant had driven the car from Tauhoronikau without the slightest mishap. If she had been intoxicated when she left the racecourse they might reasonably have expected trouble before it actually occurred. The defendant stated that she hqd been partly blinded by the light of an approaching car. and had pulled too far off the road, getting into the ditch. The shock had affected her considerably, and the evidences of liquor were probably more marked than would otherwise have been the case.- The defendant had been working very late on til night prior to the races, and was rather tired. The case was not a serious one, and Mr Marsack asked that publication of defendant’s name be suppressed on the ground that it might prejudice her in gaining a livelihood for herself and her child. In making an order for the suppression of the name, it xvas stated that the Bench felt that defendant was taking the blame for someone else who should have been before the court.