MOTORIST GUILTY

Te Awamutu Courier, Volume 56, Issue 4044, 6 May 1938, Page 4

MOTORIST GUILTY

NEGLIGENT DRIVING CAUSING DEATH. ZINSLI REMANDED FOR SENTENCE. Following a retirement which lasted over the luncheon adjournment and until 3 p.m., a jury in the Supreme Court, Hamilton, on Wednesday found Bernard Zinsli, labourer, of Te Kuiti, guilty on a charge of negligently driving a car on Waiteti Road, Te Kuiti, on January 15, and causing the death of Edna Margaret Walsh, a young Hamilton woman. In giving their verdict, however, the jury added a recommendation to mercy. Accused, who was represented by Mr E. M. Mackersey, of Te Kuiti, was remanded by the Chief Justice, Sir Michael Myers, until Tuesday next for sentence. Addressing the court, Mr Mackersey stressed the fact that accused was at the time of the accident a sick man and not fit to drive a car. Accused, however, was not likely to have been aware of that. Counsel suggested that the case was one in which a certain amount of leniency was justified. His Honor said that while he would give consideration to the points raised by counsel, negligent driving had become a very serious menace to the community. A judge, of course, always liked to give effect to a recommendation of the jury. In the present case effect would be given to the recommendation, but to what extent his Honor could not say until he had given further consideration to the case.