SPEED OVER INTERSECTION

Hawera Star, Volume LIV, 15 June 1935, Page 5

SPEED OVER INTERSECTION

QUESTIONS ASKED AT INQUEST. DEATH OF SOUTH ISLAND MAN. (By Telegraph—Press Association. - ) WELLINGTON, June 14. An inquest was commenced to-day on the death in hospital of. Norman Anderson, of Waimatuku, near Invercargill, who was struck by a motorear at the corner of Willis and Willeston Streets, Wellington, about 10.40 p.m. on May 6Evidence was given by eye-witnesses that the car was travelling at high speed and did not stop. Ttie driver, Patrick Thomas Syron, said there were three others in the car. He approached the intersection at 15 to 20 miles an hour and pulled to the centre of the road to avoid a stationary car. Something struck the windscreen and broke the glass. He pulled at the brake but the person sitting beside him said he thought- it was all right. He looked back and could not see anything and continued up Willis Street. When the sub-inspector of police asked at this stage where he went, counsel for Syron objected to any further questioning. He said the only duty of the coroner was to ascertain the manner of the death. The coroner thought, however, that the question where Syron wont might have a bearing, and the questions continued. Syron said he left the car in College Street, five or ten minutes’ walk from his home. He did not want his people to see the windscreen was broken. The sub-inspfictor: But then -you did not know you struck anyone.

“GO FOR. YOUR LIFE.” Syron said he knew then. He also said that after the accident one of his passengers said, “you have hit a man; go for your life.” As the result oi what he was told lie drove on;

Syron said the next time he saw thccar was at the police station. He did not know the car had been- found at Houghton Bay. The sub-inspector: Have you any idea liow it- got there ? Syron: I don’t wish to answer that. The sub-inspector: AY'hy don’t you wish to answer it? You must give a reason.—l might incriminate someone else. That is your reason, then? —Yes. It is not that you might incriminate yourself iu auy way; it is that you might implicate others ?—Yes. Well, you have to answer it now. Mr Stewart: It is a deliberate trap. The coroner said that Syron need not answer the question. After further questioning Syron said he admitted he was driving the car at the time of the accident. Mr Stewart then said there was nothing else required for the purpose ol the inquest. . The coroner: AYliat about sobriety : Mr Stewart said that had nothing to do with it. The tracing of Syron’s movemens throughout the evening had no hearing on the inquest. The coroner said he would like to know if witness had been drinking before the accident. If he was sober it might have been purely an accident-. The sub-inspector said that the object of the inquest was to find out how Anderson met his death and! all the surrounding circumstances. Continuing his evidence Syron said he had three drinks between 5.30 anc 6 p.m. To Mr Mazengarb he said he never saw the body of tho man on the bonnet of the car. Mr Mazengarb: AYho removed the glass from the car? Syron said ho did not wish to answer on the grounds of incrimination. Do you know tho glass was removed from tho car?—l don’t wish tc answer that.

DID NOT REPORT ACCIDENT. To further questions put by Alt Mazengarb Syron said he did not know Anderson was dead until 5 p.m. the next day. He did not report the accident to the police. A passenger in the car, Roy Hamilton Dellow, of Island Bay, a company secretary, said Syron and he went into the town in the car accompanied by Mr and Airs Taylor. The driver, be thought-, was Syron, with Taylor sitting next to him. Coming into AVillis Street the car was not travelling at more than 20 to 25 miles an hour. He felt a bump and the windscreen broke. When he looked back the car was past the stationary car at the kerb and be could not see anything else. Sub-Inspector Carroll: AA r as anything said then or immediately afterward about what the car struck?—No, I don't think so. Dellow added that he remembered someone saying something like “AVe’ve hit something; is is all right; get away on.” AVlien they arrived at College Street somebody said, “I think we hit a man.’’ Nothing more, he thought, was said. He himself wanted to get away home. Detective Brosnan said that at 2.30 a.m. on the same night he saw blood'

md fragments of bone on a verandah post, and two other posts about 14ffc iway were lightly grazed. On the fol.owing evening lie discovered! a car parked at Houghton Bay, off Queen’s Drive. Syron came* to the station on -chat day and reported that his ear had been stolen from Holland Street between 7 p.m. and 11 p.m. The car’s windscreen was broken. There was a [graze on the left side and spots of jblood on the inside of the glass on 'the front left door. This car was later claimed by Syron. EXCESSIA T E SPEED. “I am afraid that the car was travelling through the intersection at an excessive speed and at a corner where one should take extra care,” the coroner commented. '‘The evidence of Syron and those with him is not compatible with the weight of evidence. I am satisfied that the car was going at more than 25 miles an hour. It was not quite clear whether Anderson was keeping a sharp look-out. Another man’s having refrained from 1 attempting to cross the road would almost point- to the view that Anderson was not looking out on his side.” The coroner found tlmt Anderson died at the public hospital from injuries received by being struck in "Willis Street by a car driven by Syron.