CHARGE OF NEGLIGENCE.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 79, 2 March 1929, Page 4

CHARGE OF NEGLIGENCE.

FARMER ACQUITTED. Per Press Association. HAMILTON, March 'l. ' "What Mr Justice Blair described as an errand of mercy was being performed by Andrew Ernest Randrup, farmer, of Hinuera, when his car crashed into a train at the Matamata crossing one Sunday last August, causing the death of Mrs Tui Rawhiri. Her baby was sick and Randrup drofe the mother and child to Matamata to consult a doctor. He was returning home with them when the accident occurred. Randrup and the child were injured. Randrup was charged to-day in the Supreme Court with negligent driving and causing death. The evidence showed that the train was a special going to Rotorua. Unlike almost all trains it did not stop at the Matamata station before the crossing where the accident happened. When the case came up last session the Grand Jury disagreed. To-day, Randrup, giving' evidence on his own behalf, said’ that as he approached the crossing he looked twice towards the station. He saw no train and assumed that there was no danger from that side. Owing to a particularly sick child aboard the car and the road being rough, he was travelling very carefully. After a retirement of two hours the jury returned a verdict of not guilty.