MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume XLIV, Issue 14192, 9 January 1917, Page 5

MISTAKEN IDENTITY.

.o■ . . A plea of mistaken identity was set up as the defence in the hearing of a cnarge of exceeding the speed limit ot 15 miles an hour in the 'Mangapapa Town Board district, preferred agaaist Albert Michael Lewis at the Police court to-day, before Mr K. .fc>. Floranco, iS.jNI. Defendant,' .for whom Air Burnard appeated, 4 p^ea<4sd not gailty. ■ - Sergeant .\lu#ay; who r prosecuted, ' called Conk. .Shaw. Tho latter deposed tliat on December b, at 10.45 a.m., ho saw defendant driving a motor car along Ormond road at about 25 miles per hour. Cross-examined as to tho speed, the constable stated that ho had a distance measured from Mary street? to Dalrymple ! road, a distance ot 800 yards, which ; defendant covered in lmin. lOsac. ' >',l"he i number G258 was challc^ on the back ' of the hood. j. . v. Ml' Burnard : You first reported the case as November 8? — That was a mis- ' ta-ke on my part; that only appeared in ipy report;. ■ v (Juestioned as to the identity of the driver, witness said that he knew defendant by sight, and had tried to stop him on many occasions, ,but ho had .no niunbeY on his car and always recogI nissd witness, smiled^ an4 passed on. lie ' recognised defendant at his garage,! and did not know him by name before or lio ,woul<l have btlen r^jwrted previously. Mr Bimiard, in setting up a plea ot mistaken identity, stated that . defend■ant was a large motor car dealer, and his trads number was G Oars often went out clialkad G 258 on the hood, a.nd when, sold owners were required to put the proper number on.. 'On the date m question defendant came |to town in his o.wii Mitchell car, which. had his registered number * G 258, affixed near the tail light. He i ftxfcd the date as the day following his return irom Wa.iroa.. .Mr Ij«wi^ Svas : ivot alone, as stated, but his son Lionel was with him in the car. The . car.. the cpiistablo saw. was evidently one that 'had beeii 'purchased' from Mt Lewis, but which had not its proper registered number affixed. . '. »v Defendant', in the eoursa of his evidence, stated that the <ihallc number was .marked.- on this particular. cai% b,ut was almost indistinct,, and ..could not have been saeu by the constable with the ear going -at 2^ miles an hpuiv ", As to the lime, he was ne-yer-as late a v s 11 o'clock, but ' invariably reached his office at 10 a.m., coming to town daily from Te Karftka by Orniond road. Ho was one of t/he oldest motorLsts here, and 'had never had ah.aecidenb.or, been accused of feeding ; speed jiniit.' ; .Wlien he I'crossed thfi M'angapapa boundary he always observed tha by-law aaid dropped •down. to;itndei',\ls miles', an hour. !i'he road in queßti6n > was exceedingly rough — tlin roughest portion from Gisborno to Te Kararka—^, and ,it would bo madness for anyone to exceed. 15 miles an hour nil this road. Ho also deposed to his son being iii the car with him. ! . -'CbiToborative .evidence: was given by Xionel Lewiß, defendant's son. ■ ! ! vi.'*H.is Wprship f-aid the evidence was not sufficiently conclusive to record a conviction, and the information was, dismissed. ■...•: : : '■' . ;-. .j •-..... ■. ;■ •