WINE AND THE WHEEL

Manawatu Times, Volume XLIX, Issue 2328, 23 December 1925, Page 14

WINE AND THE WHEEL

WOMAN SENT TO PRISON. A YEAR AND £2OO PINE. 1* ‘ A year’s imprisonment and a fine of £2oo—with a further three months' imprisonment in default of payment —was the sentence passed on a woman motorist nt Jedburgh Higli Court recently (says a London paper). She was Mrs. Jean Brown, of Bymouth, Berwickshire, and the jury fpund her guilty of th e culpable homicide of a cyclist by driving her car against him while under the influence of drink. They also found her guilty of endangering the lives of a pedestrian and his family by reckless driving, and of forcing another motorist off the road by driving on her wrong side. Mrs. Brown, a- handsome woman of thirty-nine, wept bitterly on being sentenced by the judge who- said: “I should not be justified in making any distinction where a man is convicted of such serious offences and th e case of a woman.’*

In giving evidence, the accused said that the cyclist came on foot from a corner, and began to mount his machine. To clear him sh e turned the car, but, she declared, her husband took tire steering wheel but of her hands; she was thrown against the wheel, lost control, and did not know what happened. She was sober, and could attach no blame to herself. The collision was due to her husband’s action.

A doctor who examined Mrs. Brown said that he considered her “to a certain extent under the influence ot liquor.”