PENALTIES IMPOSED.

Manawatu Standard, Volume LIII, Issue 284, 28 October 1933, Page 8

PENALTIES IMPOSED.

SEQUEL TO CROSSING FATALITY. WELLINGTON, Oct. 28. ; A fine of £SO, in default six months imprisonment, cancellation of his present driving license and diqualification from obtaining another for _ a period of five years after the expiration of the present licensing period, were the penalties inflicted in the Supreme Court yesterday on Stanley Frank Lincoln, driver of the motor-car which crashed into a train at the Porirua railway crossing on the night or May 21. , , , « Tile charge, which was heard before the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, on Wednesday last, was of negligent driving so as to cause the deaths ot four persons. The jury found the prisoner guilty, with a strong recommenc .tion to mercy. Sentence was deferred until yesterday. “This case has caused me considerable difficulty and anxiety,” said Sir Michael Myers addressing the prisoner before delivering sentence. “So far as the question of personal punishment is concerned there is the fact that this accident resulted in ,the destruction not only of two of your friends, but also of your wife and one of your children, to both of whom it would appear you wer© very greatly devoted. 1 ap* predate the fact that this no doubt will entail lifelong remorse. “That, however, is not the only question which the Court has to consider in these cases,” he continued. “Offences of this class, although not necessarily of the same' particular species of negligence, are, of very frequent occurrence. There must be an effective deterrent. There are three facts of which I feel’l .must not lose sight: The jury have made a very strong recommendation in favour or leniency; there is no question here or intoxication . . . and you have not sought to exculpate yourself by false statements and lying explanation. 1 ‘My own view is that at the tune of the accident you were not fit to be driving. You left Palmerston North in the morning at'4.3o, and you must have risen before 4 o’clock. It seems that you must have been driving on and off about Wellington during the greater part of the day. Consequently when you were driving back to Palmerston North my own opinion is that you were half asleep and not in a fit state to drive a car. In no other way as far as I can see can your very grave negligence be explained—but, ot course, not excused. “There can be no greater deterrent to offences of this kind than the certainty that there will be no miscarriage of justice and that juries will not hesitate to convict when negligence is proved, that they will not hesitate to pass imprisonment. And almost as a matter of certainty there will follow cancellation of the driving license for several years. I must say that I have grave doubts as to whether I should not impose a sentence of imprisonment liere. On the whole, however, I have come to the conclusion that justice will be served by not adopting this course. When all the facts are taken into consideration—the jury’s recommendation and the prisoner’s, good character —it is better to err, if error there be, on the side of mercy. I repeat that to my mind the conviction is tar more important than the sentence.” At the hearing the case for the prosecution was conducted by Mr P. S. K. Macassey, Crown Prosecutor. Mr j. S. Hanna appeared for the defendant.