AN OPEN VERDICT ON SLAUGHTERMAN’S DEATH

Manawatu Times, Volume LIII, Issue 6551, 7 March 1928, Page 6

AN OPEN VERDICT ON SLAUGHTERMAN’S DEATH

MASTEBTON MOTOR COLLISION. (Per Press Association.) MASTEBTON, Last, Night. The inquest concerning the death of Frank Clifford Shackleton, a slaughterman, who died of injuries received in a motor collision between a Black and Whito freight service truck, and a motor-lorry driven by K. Aplin, of Mas terton, carrier, was resumed yesterday The taking of evidence occupied thi whole day, and the Coroner returned an open verdict. Many witness were called, and in the course of the evidence it was stated that the Black and White truck was travelling at 25 miles per hour and Aplin’s lorry between 12 and 15 milei an hour when the collision occurred. Louis S. Tremayne, driver of tlu Black and White truck, stated that just before the collision he was blinded by the sun, which temporarily obscured his vision. The actual point or collision was in dispute, the plan put in by the police and another put in bj counsel for Black and White Cabs Ltd, differing in vital particulars. The Coroner returned'a verdict that Shackleton came by his death from head injuries and shock, caused by a, collision between motor vehicles driven by Louis S. Tremayne and Kenneth Aplin. “In returning an open verdict,” said the Coroner, “I am not prepared to say whether one or other of tha drivers was at fault. That is for s higher court to decide. There was ample room for the vehicles to pass, and I fail to see how the sun could have much effect on a driver, but that is merely my opinion.”