MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

Poverty Bay Herald, Volume LXIV, Issue 19339, 1 June 1937, Page 8

MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE

TRIAL OF TRAM DRIVER FATE OF PEDESTRIAN (Per Press Association.) DUNEDIN, last- night,. The Supreme Court, over which Mr. Justice Kennedy presided to-day, was engaged in hearing evidence in (lie case in winch Alfred Chapman, aged 33. tramway motovinan, was charged with committing manslaughter in that he killed Joint Kenny. The charge, to which the accused pleaded not guilty, arose out, of an accident on Signal Hill road, (Jpolio, on the morning ol April 15, when a tram driven by Chapman left the rails amt plunged through a fence, fatally injuring Kenny, who was walking on the footpath. The bearing of the evidence for tillCrown occupied the whole of the day, and the case for the defence will be com licenced when the court resumes in the morning. In his address to the jury, the Crown prosecutor said that the accused was charged upon a single count of manslaughter. The charge was based solely on negligence and the allegation of the Crown was, therefore, that by negligence the accused brought about the death ol John Kenny. Dr. Dickie, house surgeon at the Dunedin Hospital, described the injuries suffered by the deceased. Thomas Alfred Biggs, mechanical engineer employed by the City Corporation tramways department, said be was walking down Signal Hill road on the morning of April 15, and bo saw the car as it reached Roxborough street, a block below the terminus at Opoho. It was travelling much faster than the usual pace at that point, and was swaying. It, then jumped the rails, ran 30 or 40 yards on the street, then turned to the right, ran over the footpath and crashed through a fence. Kenny, who was walking down the footpath, hesitated, evidently realising there was something wrong with the train, and just before it hit him, he seemed to step backwards, as though to avoid it. The tram came to rest in a section on its wheels. The visibility was fairly good. When the tram turned off the rails it was travelling at 30 or 40 miles an hour. Charles Herbert Thomisoti, medical student, who was a passenger on the back platform of the train, said it, soon gathered speed after leaving the terminus and he realised when it bad gone loss than 50 yards, that there was something wrong. He could toll that, the magnetic, brake was not working, and about 30 yards above Roxburgh street, he saw tho motormnn working the hand brake. The tram left the rails shortly below Roxburgh street and the witness was thrown off just before it stopped on the section. The speed of the car became progressively faster as it descended the bill, pitching and swaying in its course. Corroborative evidence was given by other passengers on the car. \V. (I. Machen/.ie, tramways manager, said that an investigation subsequent to the accident, revealed nothing wrong with the brakes or with the track. This evidence, was corroborated by .Maurice Ordist. Fail-burst, plant overseer, of the Public Works Department, and William Dafis Richards, engineer in the tramways department. Evidence for the defence will be heard to-morrow.