MOTORIST ACQUITTED

Otago Daily Times, Issue 25364, 23 October 1943, Page 6

MOTORIST ACQUITTED

CHARGE OF CAUSING DEATH ACCUSED’S MENTAL CONDITION (P.A.) WELLINGTON, Oct. 22. A verdict of not guilty on a charge of negligent driving causing death against Leonard Thomas Cross, a carpenter, aged 59, was returned by a jury in the Supreme Court to-day, together with a rider recommending the immediate cancellation of the accused’s driving licence because of the evidence as to his physical condition. A car which was being driven by Cross on July 24 apparently became out of control while descending a steep street in Wellington and struck and overturned a small car and almost at the same time knocked down two men, one of whom, David Henry Knowles, died soon afterwards. The facts were not disputed by the defence, which contended that the car was completely out of the accused’s control. Counsel for the accused said that because of an organic disease of the brain Cross was liable to periods of unconsciousness, and the jury would be asked to conclude that he suffered such a phase before the accident.

A doctor and a friend of the accused gave evidence of the accused’s condition, the friend saying that Cross had fallen down without warning on several occasions before the accident. Cross in evidence said that he did not remember what had happened as the car came down the hill.