THE SUPREME COURT.

New Zealand Herald, Volume L, Issue 15306, 20 May 1913, Page 5

THE SUPREME COURT.

ALBERT STREET INCIDENT.

A RUNAWAY MOTOR.

FAILURE OF PROSECUTION.

A middle-aged man named Charles Bailey pleaded not guilty at the Supreme Court yesterday, before Mr. Justice Cooper, to a charge of having, on April 28, intended to do damage to a motor-car by setting it in motion, and to a further charge of having done damage to the car. Mr. W. E. Hackett defended the accused.

Bailey was alleged by the prosecution to have deliberately released the brakes of the car, which was the property of Charles F. Gardner, allowing it to run violently down the slope of Albert Street, with the result that it dashed into the front of ' the Waiteihata Fruitgrowers' Association's store, and was considerably damaged.

Walter Edward Taylor, verger at St. Matthew's Church, stated that he was wheeling his invalid wife up Albert Street when he saw a man, whom he identified as the accused,. lean over the car. He heard the click of brakes, and the car ran backwards down the hill, and struck a building on the other side of the road. The crash attracted a crowd. The witness followed the accused, but did not call out for fear of frightening his wife. He was met outside the Star Hotel by the proprietor (Mr. G. Hyde), and pointed out the accused to him as having set thg car going. The. witness did not see anyone try to stop the car. ~ \ - Charles Fisher Gardner, the owner of the car, said he was a brickmaker at New Lynn. He left the car outside the Star Hotel at 6.15 p.m., putting the brakes on and leaving the gear in. While he was in the hotel he was told his car had run away, and found it alongside a building on the opposite side of the street.. He had the car repaired, and estimated the damage at £30. On the scene of the accident he saw the prisoner, and he heard a constable say, "Go away; you're drunk." Then someone else said, "No, don't let that man go; he's the man that let the car go." He did not hear anyone deny that statement.

Percy R. Skeates, a ' member . of the motor-dealing firm of Skeates and White, gave expert evidence. It would be quite easy for one ignorant of cars to release a motor left as the one concerned in this case, and he had never known of a car moving off if the brakes had been properly applied. Constable Clist stated that he saw Bailey after the incident and told him to "go because he was drunk. Then Taylor told him that Bailey had let the car go. Witness arrested Bailey for drunkenness. •

Robert Keenan (a retired cabdriver), Lawrence Sherry (a labourer), and the prisoner gave evidence for the defence. Mr. Hackett sought to prove that the prisoner was not in the street at the time the car started. The prisoner admitted that he was arrested for drunkenness, but said he was not drunk. In the course of his cross-examination he accused the witness Tavlor of having committed perjury, and when asked by Mr. Tole what motive he thought the witness would have for such an offence, said that Taylor was "very useful to the police." His "Honor then gave Mr. Tole leave to examine the prisoner as to his past record, and obtained the admission that he had been convicted for several offences, the last being assault and robbery. >.) His Honor drew the jury's notice to the fact that there could be little or no doubt that somebody let the car go; the question for them to decide was whether the observation of one witness as to the identity of that person was sufficient to justify a conviction. ..;■:, . :.;_.:■■ • . . ' ' - After a short retirement the jury returned a verdict of * not guilty. In reply to His Honor, the foreman stated that the evidence of the witness Taylor was' not discredited, but there was a possibility that he had mistaken the identity of the man in the dark.

RACECOURSE INCIDENT. ,'. A charge of stealing a pocket book containing £4 in gold, and , also of being in possession of stolen property, knowing it to have been stolen, was made against George Thomas Evans. V The case for the Crown was that an elderly man named Lynch, of Coromandel, came to town on April 16, with a view to attending the Avondale races. He met Evans, and the two, with another man, hired a taxicab and went out to the course. At the suggestion of Evans they all had a drink, Lynch finding out almost immediately that his pocket book was missing. Some time later he had seen the other two sitting on a seat, and as he ran over to them noticed Evans throw the pocket book under the seat. The third man had disappeared, but Evans had been given into custody. The accused, who did not* go into the witness-box, gave a general denial to the allegations of theft. ;".-«'•• The jury acquitted the accused of the charge of having committed theft, and found him guilty of being in possession of stolen property, knowing it to nave been stolen. He was remanded for sentence until this morning. '.