BOY CYCLIST'S DEATH

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXIX, Issue 21254, 6 August 1932, Page 12

BOY CYCLIST'S DEATH

STREET MOTOR ACCIDENT CHARGE OF NEGLIGENCE DRIVER ACQUITTED BY JURY The trial of John George Collins, aged 22, motor driver, on a charge of negligently driving a motor-car so as to cause the death of Edward Antonovich, a boy, was concluded before Mr. Justice Herdman and a jury in the Supreme Court yesterday. The accident occurred on May 26 at the coiner of Walmer Road and tho Great North Road, where Antonovich, who was riding a bicycle, came into collision with a motor-car driven by Collins. After a retirement of half-an-hour the jury brought in a verdict of not guilty, and Collins was discharged. When accused, who commenced bis evidence on Thursday, was further examined yesterday, the fact was elicited that ho could neither read nor write. His counsel explained that when Collins was seven years old he left school to go to tho backblocks in the far north. Witness described the way in winch a statement had been taken from him by the police, and said he made no suggestion that tho statement as read to him was in anyway inaccurate. Accused told His Honor that tho boy was carrying a large bag of apples on tho front of his machine, which was wobbling about and seemed to be out of control before it. crashed into the side of the car. He estimated tho speed of the bicycle at. about 25 miles an hour, or twice as fast as the car was travelling. Thomas McCulloch, labourer, who had been standing at his gate, close to the scene of tho accident, said the accused's car made a correct turn into Walmer Road at a normal speed. Tho statement that the brakes of the car were as good as they could be made two days before the accident was made by John Lionel Marmont, motor-car salesman. Expert evidence was given by L. C. Atwool, consulting engineer, who said he had tested the effect of a loose weight on tho handlebars of a bicycle, and found that it altered the whole conditions and made the cycle much more difficult to ride. According to measurements he took at the scene of the accident, the bicycle must have been going at from two and a-half to three times as fast as the car. Counsel for accused said the Crown had failed to prove that some action on the part of the accused had caused the lad's death, or that Collins had failed to exercise all reasonable care. The Crown Prosecutor said the accused's account of the accident had been contradicted by all the eye-witnesses. His Honor, in summing up, said if the proof offered by the Crown was not clear and satisfactory, it was the business of the jury to acquit the accused.