CHARGE DISMISSED

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22349, 21 February 1936, Page 13

CHARGE DISMISSED

SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT PEDESTRIANS NEGLIGENT [BY TELEGRAPH —OWN CORRESPONDENT] ROTORUA, Thursday Stating that he was satisfied that in the circumstances the driver had done everything possible to avoid an accident, Mr. S. L. Paterson, S.M., to-day dismissed a charge against a young man, Denis Brassill Mulvehill, accountant, of Auckland, of negligent driving on the road from Whakarewarewa to Rotorua in the early hours of January 26 last. The case was a sequel to an accident which took place in' the vicinity of Arawa Park, when a young man and woman who were walking on the bitumen surface were knocked down and were subsequently taken to hospital in Mulvehill's car. Mr. R. A. Potter, instructed by Mr. R. P. Hunt, of Auckland, appeared for Mulvehill, who pleaded not guilty. The magistrate pointed out that when the couple were first seen only 30ft. in front of the car defendant had only a second to avoid an accident. The negligence on the part of the pedestrians in walking on # the road when there was a good footpath in the vicinity had placed hifti in a difficult predicament.