POKENO COLLISION

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXII, Issue 22108, 14 May 1935, Page 13

POKENO COLLISION

MOTOR-CYCLIST'S DEATH

, CAR DRIVER FINED £2O

As a result of a collision between a motor-car and a motor-cycle on the Pokeno-Paeroa Road at Pokeno Valley on November 29 last, in which tho cyclist, George Samuel Walters, of Newmarket, received fatal injuries, a sharemilker, Albert. Claude Nicholson, aged 27, the driver of the car, appeared before Mr. Justice Fair in the Supreme Court yesterday for sentence. In the Pukekohe Police Court prisoner had pleaded guilty to a charge of driving in a negligent manner, thereby causing the death of the cyclist. He was. also charged there with driving without a licence, for which he was fined 10s. Mr. Meredith represented the Crown, while Mr. Garland appeared for prisoner. Mr. Garland said that for six years prisoner had been driving on a service run. During tliat time he had not had an accident, nor had he suffered any prosecution. There was no suggestion of liquor, nor was his skill as a driver or the condition of the car in question. His Honor said the evidence of Constable Clifford that prisoner was a careful driver established to His Honor that the act. oi: carelessness on this, particular day was an aberration of prisoner's usual careful method of driving. Further, the police reported that he bore a good character, which, in His Honor's view, must , always tell in favour of anyone accused of a crime. He had led an exemplary life, and was a steady worker. He would bo fined £2O, ito bo paid within 12 months; he would pay the costs of the prosecution within six months, and would be disqualified from obtaining a driver's licence for 12 months. In default of payment of the fine a term' of three months' imprisonment was fixed.