INTOXICATED OR ILL?

Sun (Auckland), Volume IV, Issue 1024, 15 July 1930, Page 16

INTOXICATED OR ILL?

MOTORIST CHASED BY INSPECTOR COURT RESERVES DECISION Charged with being intoxicated while in charge of a motor-car, and with failing to produce his licence when requested, Patrick William Brian Simon ton (Mr. R. W. F. Wood) appeared before Mr. F. H. Levien. S.M., at the Otahuhu Police Court yesterday. Defendant pleaded not guilty to the former charge, and guilty to the latter. Inspector Clark said that on April 23, while betwen Papatoetoe and Otahuhu, on the Great South Road, the driver of a motor-lorry complained to him that a motorist had run into him at Otahuhu. He had previously seen the car, and it was being driven in an erratic manner. He immediately gave chase and caught up with the car just south of the Wiri Post Office, where it was pulled up in the centre of the road. When asked how he came to collide with the lorry, he said the lorry pulled up suddenly, and he bumped into it. Defendant said he had a night out tho previous evening, and he had taken three brandies as a pick-me-up. Asked to produce his driver’s licence he said he did not possess one. They then proceeded to Dr. Jenkins, Manurewa. The doctor said defendant was not in a fit condition to drive a car. Defendant was muddled, and had offered the driver of the lorry a drink, and also had liquor in the car. OFFER OF DRINK REFUSED Gordon McCallum, the driver of the lorry, said that as he was passing the monument at Otahuhu he felt a bump at the rear of the lorry; hp knew who it was as he had been pulled up further along the road by defendant continuously sounding his horn. When witness stopped his vehicle and asked what he wanted, Simonton said he had been wanting him for a long time to give him a glass of beer. When the drink was refused he drove on. Dr. Campbell Jenkin, of Manurewa, said that on April 23 defendant was brought to him by the inspector. He found that he had been indulging in alcoholic liquor to such an extent that his judgment was impaired. He was not a fit and proper person to bo in charge of a motor-car. Defendant said that he left .Auckland in the morning to proceed to Hamilton. After a while he felt shaky and nervous, and stopped at Wiri to settle down. He did not remember telling the inspector iie had been on the spree the night before. He suffered- with his nerves, and on his arrival at New Plymouth collapsed, and was under medical attention for some time. To the magistrate, he said he did not remember asking the lorry-driver to have a drink or running into the lorry. Dr. J. S. Currie, of Otahuhu, enumerated a list of complaints, the effects of which might have been taken for intoxication. Mr. Levien said he would reserve his decision until July 28.