CHARGE AGAINST DRIVER

Hawera & Normanby Star, Volume XLI, Issue XLI, 8 March 1921, Page 5

CHARGE AGAINST DRIVER

ALREADY WELL PUNISHED

(BY ISLEURAPH —PEERS ASSOCIATION » AUCKLAND, March 7.

A sensational motor smash in Karangahape road; about midnight on February 14, was recalled at the Police Court this morning, when the driver of the car, John Herbert Ferguson, was charged with being drunk wnen in charge of the conveyance.

Mr Moody asked the Bench to exercise its jurisdiction under section 18 of the Offenders' Probation Act. It must be confessed, he said, that accused had had a small amount of liquor, and this fact and an attempt to evade the safety zone, in. which a turn was made too quickly, contributed to the accident. Accused, who was on crutches, was still getting treatment at the hospital, and counsel considered that his injuries* and the. reparation that he would have to make for a broken window —about £40 —and damage to the car, were sufficient punishment. Accused suffered from malaria, a war disability, and was in receipt of "a pension for same, and a conviction might lead to the curtailment of this.

/ Senior-Sergeant Rawle, referring to the accident, explained that the car was observed travelling at an estimated speed of sixty miles "an hour about 11.40 p.m. on February 14, with four occupants, and. apparently a tyre burst and the car got out of control and crashed into verandah posts and "a plate glass, window. One of the occupants had. two ribs broken. _, "

Mr Poynton, S.M., concurred in the, contention that accused had been well punished, and that a conviction might ' prejudicially affect his future. Even though his conduct was practically equivalent to inviting tragedy, he did not think there was need for further punishment. As had been frequently done before, the case would be dismissed under section 92 of the Justices of the Peace Act.