COAST FATALITY
INQUEST AT THAMES DEATH ACCIDENTAL VERDICT BY CORONER An inquest concerning the death of Edward Roberts, late of Hikutaia, aged 60 years, was held in the Thames Police Station on Tuesday morning, before Mi’ W. Bongard, coroner. Deceased met his death in an accident on the Thames Coast Road on November 25, when the car he was driving brushed the side of a lorry when rounding a dangerous bend, and fell 22ft. over a cliff. Lorry Driver’s Evidence Evidence was given by the driver of the lorry, John Charles Cotter, of Ngatea, who is employed by A. Stembridge and Sons, Nethertbn. Cotter stated that his lorry was stationary at the time of the accident. He was driving around a dangerous bend on the road about one mile south of Kereta, and 20 miles from Thames, when, he saw deceased’s car approaching. He had stopped close to the bank on the right side of the road. The car was on the wrong side of the road and in attempting to avoid a collision it brushed the front mudguard of the lorry, travelled across, the road and fell over the cliff. Going down the cliff to where the car had fallen. Cotter extracted deceased, made himas comfortable as possible, and went to telephone for a doctor, at deceased’s request. On Wrong Side of Road Constable William Cook, of the Thames police, stated in evidence that wheel marks and other signs showed that deceased was driving on the wrong side of the road when the accident occurred. There had been ample space in which to pass. Dr. G. W. Davidson, of the Thames Hospital, said deceased had received multiple injuries, ami in his opinion death was caused by heart failure from shock, as the result of the injuries.
“It is obvious that the deceased went from the right to the wrong side of the road when approaching the bend,” .said Mr Bongard. “The. lorry was stationary and could not have been any closer to the bank on the right side of the road. Death was accidental and caused by multiple injuries received in a car smash.’
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Bibliographic details
Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32376, 24 December 1943, Page 5
Word Count
355COAST FATALITY Hauraki Plains Gazette, Volume 52, Issue 32376, 24 December 1943, Page 5
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