NEGLIGENT DRIVING.

Manawatu Standard, Volume XLIX, Issue 226, 23 August 1929, Page 7

NEGLIGENT DRIVING.

TARANAKI CASE. Per Press Association. NEW PLYMOUTH,Aug. 22. After a two hours’ retirement, a jury to-day found a Maori named Romi Watson and his employer, Louis Albert Sarten, a farmer, guilty of negligent driving so as to cause the death of John Poletti. The accused were remanded in custody for sentence tomorrow- On alternative charges of manslaughter, the accused were found not guilty. The charges arose out of an incident on the evening of June 11, when Mr Poletti, a well-known farmer of Bell Block, was knocked down by a lorry driven by Watson and killed. The iorry had no lights and both the accused had known for a fortnight that the battery was out of order. Watson was driving the lorry 18 minutes after tho time when it was supposed to be lighted and Sarten was driving his car behind the lorry in an endeavour to light the way. When the driver of the lorry saw a car approacning, he pulled well off on the correct side. It was then he became aware that he had struck something. He slopped and found Mr Poletti in a dying condition. The jury added a rider to the verdict, very strongly recommending Watson to mercy and also recommending Sarten to mercy.