Motorist On Trial For Death of Child

Sun (Auckland), Volume III, Issue 662, 14 May 1929, Page 1

Motorist On Trial For Death of Child

NEGLIGENCE ALLEGED REMUERA FATALITY Prosecution of Clarence Francis Beresford Power, IS, who is standing his trial before Mr. Justice Herdman in the Supreme Court, on a charge of negligently driving a motor-car causing the death of a four-year-old child, Diana Victoria Menzies, concluded late yesterday afternoon. The little girl was killed on Lucerne Road, Remuera, on the afternoon of April 19. The story of the girl, Mabel Frances Dudson, 18, accompanying Power in the car when the accident occurred, was the principal testimony in the afternoon. She strongly refuted the suggestion that she was talking to the driver while travelling down Lucerne Road; her throat was sore, she said. Mr. Meredith: Was Power’s throat sore too? (Laughter). “I don’t know,” replied witness. The car was travelling at a moderate speed; she was nervous in cars and Power always drove her carefully for that reason. “When the car was about 10yds from the fruiterer's cart standing on the roadside, the child stepped off the footpath from behind the vehicle,” she proceeded. “She ran right in front of the car—she was lost to view and then I caught a glimpse, and a flash of pink on the right mudguard. I was convinced that the little girl had crossed safely, and remarked that was a narrow escape.” The girl added that she looked back three times, but could not see the child as the cart was obscuring her vision. His Honour: Why did you look back?—l was positive the child had crossed safely, but I thought she might have fallen in running so fast. EXAMINED FIVE HOURS Witness said she asked the driver to stop to enable her to look back, but Power said that the petrol was short, and he feared that by stopping he would not be able to restart the car. On refilling the benzine tank at Power’s home they returned by the same route and only then learned that the child had been injured. She emphatically denied Power had run away from the scene of the accident. On reporting the accident to the police they were questioned in separate rooms for five hours continuously, though she had reminded her interrogators she was not well. No evidence was submitted for the defence when the hearing resumed this morning, Mr. Leary relying upon his address to the jury. He refuted the Crown Prosecutor's suggestion that the case demanded special consideration owing to the alarming increase of motor fatalities. The death rate was astonishingly low compared with the marked increase of traffic and associated problems. “This case has not been fought out on its merits,” declared Mr. Leary. “A red herring has been adroitly drawn by the Crown across the scent with considerable ingenuity.” Counsel referred to the Crown’s suggestion that there had been no cart, stating there was no motive for concocting such a story. In the course of his summing up. his Honour directed the jury to dismiss from their minds the suggestion that there was any cart near the scene of the tragedy when the accident occurred. as at least four witnesses contradicted the girl Dudson. In addition there was evidence that accused had driven on after the accident, from which it could be inferred that he was not keeping a proper look-out. The jury retired at 11.30 a.m.