NEGLIGENT DRIVER GOES TO GAOL

NZ Truth, Issue 1263, 13 February 1930, Page 10

NEGLIGENT DRIVER GOES TO GAOL

Young Bank Clerk Knocked Down Cyclist and Killed Him

VICTIM OF ACCIDENT LEFT IN AGONY (Frpm "N.Z. Truth's" Special Dunedin Representative;)

At the: Roxburgh Fire Brigade Ball at midnight on November 29, many young people were aglow with pleasure — among them, nineteen-years-old Stanley Omand. . . j Not two hours later, on the Roxburgh-Coal Creek road, young Omand, after seeing his young lady safely home, was lying bleeding and suffering from injuries which subsequently proved fatal. He had been the victim of a collision with a motor-car, the driver of which had driven straight on into the night.

IN this condition he was found by a youth, who, sleeping m a tent near the roadside, was attracted by the injured man's cries. : The story of the tragedy, was told m the Dunedin Supreme Court when George' McGavin O'Kane, ft. 20-years-old Dunedin bank clerk, was acquitted on a manslaughter charge, but found guilty of causing ' death through negligent- driving. A peculiar feature of the case was the jury's rider: "That m view of the fact' that the accused had had a long drive and had attended a dance, the jury is of the opinion that he was partially overcome by fatigue and therefore negligent." The case excited widespread interest throughout Otago, and with 18 witnesses called by the Crown the case occupied the greater part of twofdaya v j Mr.. Justice Kennedy was on the bench, Mr. F. B. Adams conducted the Crown's evidence, and Mr. A. C. Hanlon appeared on O'Kane's behalf. MEDICAL EVIDENCE The charges were: (1) Committing manslaughter by killing Stanley Omand; -(2) causing death by reckless and negligent driving; and, (3) causing death 'while m a state of intoxication m charge of a motor-car. Medical evidence was. first called relating to Oman'd's injuries. ' Dr. J. R. Gilmour, of 1 Roxburgh, said that about 2 o'clock on the morning of November 30, he received a oall which took him to the scene of the accident, where he found Omand suffering from shock and a compound fracture of the left leg. The injured man was removed to* the Ounedin Hospital. Dr. Strang, resident surgeon at the hospital, said that on the evening of November 30, Omand died from shock, resulting from the accident. Mr.- Hanlon: The fact that deceased was "' carried 100 miles m a car would aggravate the effect of the shock ?— Yes.; • ".'■'■■ Gordon Alexander Aston, a youth employed as a fruit-picker, stated' that he was living m a tent at Mr. Craig's homestead juat out of Roxburgh. He had been to the fire brigade dance and had retired for the night when he .heard a motor-cycle on the road. "I heard it pass tho tent, and then the sound very much like a tyre blowing out. Shortly afterwards I heard somebody shout out 'Hi' four times, and I got up and went to -\the gate; I could see sorrftebody lying on the road near an electric' light, and there was a motor-cycle ' lying near him." Aston then said he went over to the injured man, who told him he had been knocked down by a blue sedan car. i ■ Other evidence was called to show that O'Kane was at the Roxburgh Fire Brigade dance, where he had "shouted" for^ one man oiit of a partially full bottle of v/hisky he produced from the back of his car. Francis Joseph Tamblyn, fruitgrower, of Coal Creek, said that he left the dance shortly after one o'clock m the morning. Proceeding home m his car, he met O'Kane m a car travelling at a speed which Tamblyn estimated to be about 45 miles an hour. "I commenced to pull up, and O'Kane's car swung into the hedge beside Toms' house . . . I prevented an accident by pulling up my car." CARS PULLED UP Both cars having pulled up, Tamblyn asked O'Kane what he thought he was trying to do, to which O'Kane answered that his accelerator had jambed. Tamblyn did not smell liquor on O'Kane, who spoke quite normally. " . There was a mild sensation m court when' Miss Alice May Paterson, employed at a Roxburgh hotel, after being asked by the Crown Prosecutor if she had been keeping company with i the deceased, fell backwards m a dead faint from the witness-box. Mr; Hanlon agreed tc the girl's evidence being taken from the lower court depositions. Jessie Craig, married woman, stated that at 1.60 on the morning of November 30, she heard a crash and the noise of a car passing her window. Details of finding Omand lying injured at the scene of the accident were given by Francis Henry Thompson. Omand's father, Thomas Omand, stated that his ran was employed as a telephone clerk and had always enjoyed good health. The lad had been riding a motor-cycle for the past 12 months, and so far as the father knew the lad had never had an accident before. Further evidence was called, to show that O'Kane. on • the morning of November 30, called at a garage m Roxburgh and asked to have a tyre repaired. Norman Marsh . Elder, the garage proprietor concerned, stated that on noticing that the front mudguard of O'Kane's car was damaged, he asked him if he had had an accident. O'Kane^ replied that he thought he had hit a bridge on his way back from Coal Creek after the dance. Police witnesses stated that they had .carried out certain tests i-n the vicinity of the accident, and that an examination of a bridge situated between Roxburgh and the scene of the smash had revealed no marks of a, car having struck it. HE FELT A BUMP In a statement to Constable Parkhill, O'Kane declared that after the dance he had . taken home a friend named Toms, and when returning to Roxburgh at a speed of from 20 to 25 miles an hour, he felt a bump and his left front tyre had gone flat. When he went to his car the next , morning he discovered that his lefthand .front mudguard was dented and at first he assumed he had struck a -bridge. But later, on hearing of the accident,, he' was struck with the idea that it may have Taeen his own car that hit the youth' on the motor-cycle.

This he immediately disclosed to Mr. Williamson. When the jury returned, the foreman asked his Honor if the . word "recklessly" could be omitted from the second count. On the judge giving his assent, the foreman then announced that the jury found O'Kane guilty on the second charge. ; The aforementioned "rider" was' then added. When O'Kane came up for sentence, Mr. Hanlon called two witnesses to give evidence as to his character. R. McK. rfanna, manager of the .Dunedin branch of the National Bank of New Zealand; said that, O'Kane was of excellent character and had been looked upon as a very promising officer. • J. W. t>ove, traveller and member of the Otago Hospital Beard, stated that he had known O'Kane for five or six years and had never heard of his being addicted to drink. His Honor (to O'Kane): Your' case has given me much thought. You have been convicted by a jury of causing a young man's death through negligent driving-. I shall not overlook the jury's rider regarding overfatigue. •' v >■..■< DETERRENT ASPECT "However, it is a question of whether you had need to be,on the, road at the time of the accident. You had one warning when you yourself ran off the road— when you were 'ditched.' You then narrowly escaped a serious collision with another car. "You, say that you were unaware of the collision with the cyclist, who was left there m his agony.^by the roadside until found by residents who happened to be awake. VYet by your statement next morning it leads to, more than a suspicion that you were conscious of the accident. I must bear m . mind the deterrent aspect of the : accident, and must try to prevent other, parents from losing children by sheer careless driving." O'Kane was sentenced to 9 months' imprisonment with hard laibor, and disqualified from holding a driver's license for a period of 3 years.