INQUEST HELD

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27567, 8 December 1950, Page 5

INQUEST HELD

Fatal Accident In City Road The inquest into the death of George Calder Begg Paterson, a retired commercial traveller, aged 65, who died from injuries suffered in an accident in City road on October 17, was concluded before Mr J. D. Willis, S.M., yesterday. The coroner found that Paterson died from shock, the result of haemorrhage and laceration of the brain, caused by a severe injury to the skull. The injuries were suffered when he either collided with, or was run into by, a vehicle driven by Mrs Mary Lilian Paterson. Mr K. W. Stewart appeared for the driver of the car, Mr D. L. Wood for the relatives of the deceased, while the police were represented by Sergeant W. F. Kilpatrick. Dr E. F. D’Ath, professor of pathology at the Otago Medical School, gave his opinion as to the cause of death. In answer to the coroner, he said that the amount of alcohol found in the system indicated that the dfead man had consumed sufficient to produce signs of intoxication in the average individual. Mrs Alice Alma Edis Reid, of Gore, said that about 8 p.m. on October 17 she was standing in City road when she saw a car approaching from Roslyn. Witness was not a motor driver and' had no idea of speed, but she had never seen a car being driven so fast before. Witness saw an elderly man walking across City road. Just .after the car passed she heard a crash. The man appeared to be badly injured. Mrs Susan Loder said she was talking to the previous witness when the accident occurred. She also thought the motor car was travelling very fast. She noticed an elderly man walking along Sheen street and then start to cross City road. She took no further notice until she heard a crash. , , Mrs Mary Lilian Paterson, the driver of the car, said she was driving down City road at about 30 miles an hour when she collided with a pedestrian near the intersection of City road and Sheen street. The accident occurred at a dark spot between two street lights. Witness did not see the man until he was practically in front of her car. She applied, her brakes immediately but it was impossible to stop. To Mr Stewart, witness said she had been driving for about 16 years.