DEATH OF MISS HORGAN

Taranaki Daily News, 14 May 1932, Page 9

DEATH OF MISS HORGAN

accident at skeet road manslaughter charge sequel. JUSTICES DISMISS INFORMATION. James Williamson, charged with manslaughter in that he committed, an unlawful act resulting in the death of Mary Ellen Horgan, came before justices in the Hawera Court yesterday. Messrs. E. A. Pacey and L. A. Bone, who were on the Bench, were not satisfied that the police had established a prjma facie case, Williamson being discharged. The unlawful act alleged was under the Police Offences Act, a section of which lays it down that every person is liable to"a. fine who rides any animal and when meeting any vehicle or animal does not keep on the left or near side of the road or street. The charge was the result of a- collision in Sheet Road between Auroa and Kapuni between Williamson on horseback. and Mies Horgau on a bicycle'. As a, result of injuries sustained Miss Horgan died on April 21. Accused, was represented, by counsel and Sergeant Henry conducted the police case. At the outset at counsel’s request the information, which merely set out that accused was riding on his incorrect side, was amended to read “other than on his left or near side.” Sergeant Henry' briefly outlined the circumstances. It would be shown that accused was on the incorrect side of the the road when he collided with Miss Hor-o-an, and that there was sufficient room for accused to have ridden on the correct side of the road. The justices had to decide whether there was sufficient evidence for a higher court, not as to the miilt of accused. 3 Dr. T. H. Thorpe detailed the injuries that Miss Horgan had suffered. Her condition was so serious as to prohibit her immediate removal to hospital. The cause of death was meningitis following laceration of the brain. There was nothing to indicate what had caused the fracture except that it had been something blunt. ■ Counsel: The wound on the back of the head was consistent with the head having struck the ground? Yes, if the ground were hard and flat. Can you suggest that it was caused by anything else? Yes, it might have been anything; the knee of the horse or the flat surface of the hoof. The father of the girl, Cornelius Horgan, said his daughter had been riding bicvcles for ten years. She was a strong, athletic girl and her eyesight and hearing were good. A visit on May Id to the scene of the accident was related by Gordon S, Macdonald, who then took five photographs of Skeet Road. The first two were taken looking towards Auroa, the third look’ ing towards Kapuni and the fourth was similar, but showed a culvert, and the fifth was taken looking towards Kapuni, but from farther up the road. On the day of the accident Jack. Alfred Hansen, with others, was working on the Skeet Road about two miles from Kapuni. About 4 p.m. he Miss Horgan returning from Auroa to Kapuni on her bicycle. About a mile of the road had been broken up for repairs, about half of the work being completed. About 54 yards past witness in the direction of Kapuni there was a point where the road was broken up for the full width of the metal. This broken state extended for 24 yards towards Kapuni. The accident happened about. 75 yards from witness, or three yards inside the Kapuni end of the broken road. Miss Horgan passed Hansen’s party riding on her left-hand side of the road and passed out of Hansen’s sight, riding on the tar-seal before the broken road. The next incident was the girl calling out, “Look out.” He looked up and saw horse and cycle just prior to the collision. The horseman was on the wrong side of the road and there was a headon collision. The horseman was James Williamson, the man in Court. Accused asked what had happened. None of the repair plant was near the scene of the accident. Accused could have ridden on the left-hand side of the road, in which case there would have been no accident. Witness was unable to say at what gait the horse was travelling. There was nothing to cause the horse to chy. On Miss llorgau’s left-hand side of the road there was a growth of boxthorn, which would prevent persons travelling on the grass at that side of the road from seeing each other until they came to skirt the boxthorn. Counsel: What do you mean by the correct side of the road? ? ■Witness: The left side. If a road is 22 yards wide there is II yards of left? I suppose it means left of the centre of the road. The tar is usually in the middle of the road? Yes.

'The metal portion of the road runs within seven or eight feet of the noi them boundary, docs it not?

Ycs - „ Further questioned, witness said the boxthorn came out to the metal at the corner in the road, and at that point there was a strip of bitumen about eight feet wide, the remainder of the width being broken up. A rider travelling .as the accused had done would be cailied by the horse, -because of the boxthorn, along the strip of bitumen. This strip was on the rider's right-hand side. The accident took place somewhere about the projection into the rough of the centre line of this strip. William P. Rose, who was working witli Hansen at the time of the accident, corroborated in detail his companions evidence. He added that immediately prior to the accident both Williamson and Aliss Horgan had swerved to the centre of the road. Archie Al. Stewart, another county employee, told his story from a different viewpoint, as he was working on the Kapuni side of the accident. Accused was on the right-hand side of the road as he passed this witness.. The horse was cantering. Someone calling, ‘Look out attracted Stewart’s attention. He went to a point from which he could see whence the shout had come, and. he saw Aliss Horgan lying on the road. The boxthorn. prevented him from seeing the scene of the accident from where he was working. He was about 85 yards from the accident. It was possible to ride on the left-hand side of the road going towards Auroa. Constable Scannell, who inquired into the accident, said the boxthorn was shown in the photographs exactly as it had been at the day of the accident. On April 27 accused, made a statement, which iv«ts produced. In. this Williamson said he rode on the left-hand side of the road until he came to where the road, was under repair, .there .was metal and. clay on the left-hand, side, so he crossed over to the other side, where the road was better. Where the boxthorn jutted out he could not see persons oil the other side if they were off the road, on the grass. He was rounding the when he ran into deceased. He was "’travelling slowly and his horse was a quiet animal. He was 18 years of ac-e and. used to horses. was not cross-examined, and this concluded the police case.

In asking the justices to dismiss the information counsel contended that in riding on the right-hand eide of thq road Williamson had not committed any offence. The only obligation. was to pull to the left-hand when meeting other traffic. The evidence of Rose, showed that directly Williamson saw Miss Horgan he swerved to the left, but unfortunately she turned towards her right at the same time, There was, certainly no guilty, intention, and he did not, think that flagrant negligence had been proved.