CONVERTED CAR

New Zealand Herald, Volume LXXIII, Issue 22512, 1 September 1936, Page 16

CONVERTED CAR

CRASH THROUGH FENCE INTOXICATED DRIVER MAORI SENT TO PRISON Charges of unlawfully converting n motor-ear, valued at !MGO, to his own use and of being intoxicated while in charge of a motor vehicle were denied by a Maori, George Mi la Kenata, aged 29, an unemployed labourer, before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., yesterday in the Otahnhu Police Court. A third charge of having no driver's licence was admitted. Sergeant J. Cahill said the ear left the main highway on the Mount Wellington road near Otahului and crashed through a fence, coming to rest in 1 the garden of an adjoining house. A fence rail was hurled about MOft. and • embedded in the weatherboards of the house. Norman I'. Austin, a farmer, said he parked his car in Criterion Lane at Otahnhu about .'3,.'50 p.m. on August 27. He next saw it in the garden of a house. No one had permission to use the car, which bad been damaged to tho extent of about £7O. Passed at High Speed Mrs. Alice Eippon, the occupant of 1 the house, said she heard a crash and ' on going outside saw accused in the ! front seat, He was alone and the car doors were both shut. Accused said ho was looking for a man who had been driving the car. Similar evidence was given by tho son of the previous witness. Robert B. Blackburn said the car passed him on the highway at a speed of about 50 to (30 miles an hour. It failed to take the bend. Accused was the only person in the car. Constable 11. Archibald said that accused was obviously under the influence of liquor. He had been medically certified as unfit to have charge of a car. Statement by Accused Accused said lie was on sustenance and after drawing his money went to an Otahuhu hotel and spent 2s on drink. He met a man there and told him' he would have to take a taxi home to Pan mure, as lie had been ill. "This man offered to take me home and told me to meet him at the corner of the lane," said accused. "He wanted 4s 6d for the trip and I paid him that. After getting in the car I fell asleep and did not know anything until I felt the crash. Tho man told me to wait and he would go and get someone to pull the car out. I was dazed and tho man ran away." Mr. Hunt: And where is this man now ? Accused: I have liad no chance of calling him. "1 don't believe a word of your story," said Mr. Hunt, in convicting accused on all counts. . Sergeant Cahill said that accused had frequently come to the police with reports that had been unfounded. Accused was sentenced to three months' imprisonment on the charge of conversion and two months on the' intoxication charge, the terms to bo cumulative. He was convicted and discharged on the other count.

MECHANIC'S ESCAPADE SEQUEL IN THE COURT An apprentice motor mechanic, James Daniel Kerr, who took out his employer's motor-car without permission and was involved in an accident on the Great South Road, near Penrose on August 1, appeared before Mr. F. K. Hunt, S.M., yesterday in the Police Court at Otahuhu. He was charged with unlawfully converting the car to his own use, negligent driving, failing to report an accident, and using a car with incorrect registration plates. He admitted the charges. Sergeant J. Cahill said defendant had taken one of his employer's cars and when returning from Newmarket had collided with a power pole on the roadside. A companion had been injured, but the accident had not been reported. Defendant's employer was prepared to re-engage him. "This case is somewhat different from the ordinary conversion charge," said Mr. Hunt, who ordered accused to come up for sentence if called upon within 12 months. He was fined £2 and 10s costs and disqualified from holding a licence for 12 months on the negligent driving charge, and convicted and discharged on the other two counts.