SUPREME COURT

Nelson Evening Mail, Volume LXXI, 17 March 1937, Page 2

SUPREME COURT

CHARGE OF NEGLIGENT DRIVING SfcQWEb' -'£© Vf&l STS FATALITY At the Supremo Court yesterday afternoon William George Greep, of Tapawera. was charged with negligently driving a motor car at Wai-iti on the 20th December, thereby causing the death of Aian Merle Higgins. Mr Justice Northcroit presided. Mr C. R. Fell, Crown Prosecutor, conducted the case for the Crown and accused was represented by Mr J. R. Kerr. Accused pleaded not guilty.

The following jury was empanelled: F. J. Eight. H. C. Clark. T. Cole, R. W. McLean. G. A. Carruthcrs. L. Redshaw, B. O. Field. 11. Newport. H. A. Miller. T. Taylor, C. liower. G. C, Lamb. Mr Cole was chosen as foreman.

Mr Fell detailed the movements cf the accused during the evening of the 20th December when he travelled from Tapawera to Foxhiil to a dance. It was when deceased and the accused were returning home from dances in the country that the accident occurred.

Charles Vincent Higgins, lorry driver, of Brightwaler, father of Alan Merle Higgins, said the boy was aged 17 years 11 months, and had had the motor cycle for three months.

Cross-examined witness said his son had had the cycle for three months all but five days. His son was working at Mr Hunt’s property at Wakefield. The cycle cost £0 and it took a further £7 to put it in going order. His son had not held a driver’s license.

Jean Baigent, of Wai-iti, said on the 19th December she went to a dance at Foxhiil. She danced with Higgins who did not drink. She knew him quite well. She and her sister went home, on a motor cycle and side car driven by Mr P. Walker. She was at the gate when Higgins went past on his motor cycle. Higgins was travelling slowly and on the left hand side. After he passed, Higgins’s light could be seen going down the road. A car was approaching from the other direction. She heard the collision. When she saw the car it was in the centre of the road. After the crash she did not go to the scene of the accident.

Cross-examined witness said she was standing about 100 yards away from the point of impact. She danced with Higgins at about 10.45 p.m. She learned that the rider of the cycle was Wiggins, after the accident. She did not see the car swerve over to its wrong side.

Phillip Walker, road tractor driver, said he attended the dance at Foxhiil where he saw Higgins during the dance, and at 11.30 p.m. witness was talking to him. He saw the motor cycle go past, travelling at from 20 to 25 miles per hour. Higgins was about 2ft to 2ft 6ins from the left side of the road and was steering a perfectly straight course. He saw the lights of a car coming from the direction of Wakefield. The car was travelling about the centre of the road. As the two vehicles approached witness could see the motor cyclist in the lights of the car, still about 3 or 4 feet from the side of the road. As the car and the motor cycle got closer the car appeared to swerve to its right hand side of the road. He went to the scene of the accident and saw the car on its right hand side of the road, with the cycle jammed in the front of the car. He spoke to Greep who said “Where’s the rider,” and they had a look for him. There was another man with Greep. One of the men suggested moving the car which was done. A man Kerr came along and found the rider of the motor cycle in the blackberries. Going back along the road with his torch it appeared that the car for 30 or 40 yards had been on the wrong side of the road. It had run off the bitumen onto the gravel and onto the grass in one place. Greep said the rider was on his wrong side and was coming down the road like the “hammers of hell.” Witness said that was not so. Greep i then said that the cycle wobbled j about and then came straight for him, but witness did not reply to that. Greep was not perfectly sober. Greep did not seem to know what he was doing.

To Mr Kerr witness said he saw Higgins at the dance at 11.30 p.m. He watched the motor cycle as it proceeded down the road. The point of impact was 150 yards away from where he was standing. He estimated the speed of the car at from 35 to 40 m.p.h. He first saw the car about 300 to 400 yards away. That was at about the same time as he saw the motor cycle. The lights of the car from then on were continually within his vision. Greep did not speak exactly intelligently. Greep talked like a man who had had too much to drink. The questions Greep asked were sensible. TO-DAY’S EVIDENCE When the court resumed this morning Arthur Edmund Shuttleworth, gai’age proprietor, gave evidence. When he went to get the car the motor cycle was still locked into the car. The front wheel of the motor cycle was locked under the right hand light of the car. The bumper bar was bent back nearly to the radiator. The appearance of the car made it look as if it was an “angle” collision. The damage was mainly on the right hand sid<? of the car. The motor cycle was extensively damaged. The accident had pushed the front axle back and as a result the brakes on the car were out of order after the accident. Cross-examined witness said the motor cycle was of a type which could do 45 miles per hour. The damage to the car indicated that it could have been done either by the car or the motor cycle swerving to the wrong side. The damage was consistent with the motor cycle proceeding straight along the road with the car at an angle, or with the cycle swerving across the road from its incorrect side. Constable A. G. Hogg said he arrived at the scene of the accident at 2.5 a.m. Constable Houston being there before him. Witness spoke to Greep who said: “I have been at a dance at Brightwatcr and was going back to Foxhill to pick up my sisters and take them back to Tapawera. When I was nearing the gate down there. I saw a motor cycle coming from the opposite direction. When it got near me it wobbled all over the road. I tried to avoid it, but it collided with me.” Greep appeared to witness as if he had had liquor. His

lips were dry and parched and his eyes were bleary and he smelt strongly of liquor. Witness asked him about drink and Greep had said he had assisted in consuming a bottle of beer at the dance at Foxhiil. A man by the name of Biggs helped him to drink the bottle. Biggs was with Greep after the accident and was under the influence of liquor. In the car was a large screw-top which appeared to belong to a jar, apd in. the ear also was a sugar bag which smelt of beer. The mat in the barn of the car was stained and smelt of beer. The car at the place of impact, as shown by the marks and leakage from the radiator, was 3 feet 9 inches U'ight hand side) from the car’s incorrect side of the road. In the morning Greep admitted that the marks studded on the road with lead headed nails were the marks of his car. Greep said he tried to avoid Higgins and went to his wrong side. After the smash the lights went out and he had r.o clear recollection of what had happened. Greep had also said that he was travelling at 35 m.p.h. and when he saw he was going to have a collision the brakes were applied slightly. After the collision he did not remember putting on the brakes. Accused made a statement in which he stated that the car travelled 132 feet past the point of impact. He went to the wrong side of the road in order to avoid the cyclist when he wobbled.

The evidence of Greep at the Higgins inquest was then produced.

Cross-examined witness said the statement was made five hours after the accident. There were no marks on the road showing where the car was prior to the accident, and the marks on the plan produced showed only where the car went after •• the coilision.

Constable Joseph Houston said he saw accused alongside his car and asked what had happened. Greep had said that the motor cycle was travelling all over the road and then came straight at him. Greep gave witness the impression of having had liquor, and smelt of liquor. The sugar bag was damp with liquor, also the floor of the car.

Cross-examined witness said he did not ask Dr Closs to examine Greep in respect of his sobriety. Witness considered accused was not sufficiently under the influence of liquor when he arrived on the scene, for his arrest. That was an hour after the accident happened.

Edgar Herman Clark, medical practitioner, employed at Nelson Hospital gave the nature of the injuries sustained by Higgins. Robert Freeman, farmer, of Hope, said he was an official at the Brightwater dance, being doorkeeper. He saw Greep at the dance at about 10 o’clock. Greep smelt of drink, but in the opinion of witness he was not drunk. Greep’s behaviour was somewhat bombastic. Greep left the hall just before midnight. 9 Cross-examined witness said Greep was not strictly sober, though he would not say he was drunk. That concluded the case for the Crown. ACCUSED’S VERSION William George Greep, motor driver, of Tapawera, said he had attended a dance at Brightwater. He had had part of a bottle of beer at Foxhiil and two light shandies at Brightwater. His capacity to drive was not affected by' drink. He was perfectly sober and was an experienced driver being in charge of a truck daily for seven years. As he approached the cycle he was on his left side of the road, travelling at about 35 m.p.h. He left Brightwater at 12.5 a.m. He considered the distance from Brightwater to the accident was 7£ miles. The accident happened at about 12.30. Four chains away the motor cycle went to its wrong side. When witness saw an accident was inevitable he pulled to the incorrect side of the road, just when the motor cycle swung back across to its correct side. He was very upset at the time. A man named Hollis arrived and witness sent him for. a doctor and constable. He knew the gate where Walker and Miss Baigent were standing. The distance between the gate and the place where the car stopped was 100 yards. In his opinion the deceased was inexperienced on the motor cycle and was dazzled by the car lights. Cross-examined by Mr Fell witness said Biggs seemed quite all right and was not drunk. He went away from the dance to get the drinks at Brightwater. While outside the dance hall he did not see any demijohn of beer. He did not know how the beer got on the floor of the car, nor did he know anything about the sugar bag. Accused left the dance at 11.15 o clock and went to the hotel for two shandies. He picked up Biggs immediately after the dance. He denied that the motor cycle was taking a straight course. He denied that he said ihe cycle was travelling like the hammers of hell. What he said was that the cycle was going b— fast. Walker had denied that. COMPANION IN THE CAR Donald Silence Biggs, labourer, of Tapawera, said he went into the Brightwater hall but did not dance, staying only about 20 minutes before going outside, where for the remander of the evening he was talking to his friends. He had a couple of drinks at the dance, but Greep did not. Greep was sober and drove very carefully on the correct side. Two telegraph posts away the cycle was on its wrong side, and the car on its correct side. When the vehicles were quite close to each other Greep’s car was pulled to its incorrect side. Cross-examined witness said he hid had a couple of drinks at Belgro7e, part of a bottle at Foxhiil and tvo drinks outside the Brightwater Hill with Rod Marchbanks. He was rot drunk. MEDICAL WITNESS James Robert Closs, medical petitioner, of Wakefield, said he went to the accident with Constable Houston at about 1 a.m. Witness thoufht the accused was quite sober. It vas too dark to notice his eyes or dry mouth. In the circumstances tlat might have been the case with aryone. Accused walked steadily, lis speech was coherent, and he was lot under the influence of alcohol. To Mr Fell witness said he did rot smell liquor on Greep. Constatle Houston asked him what he thougit of Greep’s condition, and witness replied that he thought he was sober OTHER EVIDENCE David E. A. Hollis, labourer, if

Golden Downs, said he was cycling towards Wakefield. A car passed him, and it was the one involved in the collision. The car was on its correct side and it was going from 25 to 30 m.p.h. It appeared to be under proper control. He did not know Greep at the time. However, he learned later that Greep was the man he had spoken to. Greep appeared to be sober. Cross-examined witness said that after Greep had passed him the car had gone round two or three corners. Wilford D. Hargreaves, motor apprentice said he was at the Brightwater dance and was talking to Greep who was then quite sober. Charles Walter Cannington, clerk, employed by the Waimea County Council, said there was no record of Alan Merle Higgins holding a driver’s license. Joseph Frank, garage employee, Nelson, said he was at the dance and Was introduced to Greep. Greep was, in his opinion, perfectly sober. Richard Shuttleworth, garage employee, of Nelson, said he saw Greep at the dance. Greep was sober. Wilfred Lawrence Griffiths, bushman, of Stanley Brook, said he had on one occasion seen Alan Merle Higgins have a long beer in a hotel. Four or five months ago at a dance Higgins had asked him to have a drink. To Mr Fell witness said he did not see Higgins at the hotel after the dance. Vivian C. O. Price, bushman, of Foxhiil, said he had seen Higgins have a drink at the Foxhiil Hotel seven or eight months ago. (Proceeding).