DRUNKEN MOTORIST FINED

Taranaki Daily News, 12 July 1933, Page 2

DRUNKEN MOTORIST FINED

INGLEWOOD ACCIDENT SEQUEL.

STRUCK TWO WAITING CARS.

For driving a car while drunk, John William Murtagh was fined £3O by Mr. W. H. Woodward, S.M., in the Inglewood Court yesterday. His license was cancelled for two years. On charges of negligent driving and the failure to have a driver’s license he was convicted and discharged. The charges were a sequel to an accident which occurred near a . one-car bridge between Inglewood and Egniont Village on March 3, explained Constable Longbottom. Two cars gave Murtagh the right of way over the bridge, which he crossed safely, only to. strike both waiting vehicles. It had required two months to trace Murtagh, but he had eventually been located at Timaru.

A denial of intoxication and the suggestion that the accident was due to a blow-out of one of the tyres on, the ear he was driving were advanced in a statement from Murtagh, who did not appear. He was proceeding towards Egmont Village about 1.30 a.m., stated William Yeates, Inglewood. At a one-car bridge he pulled to the side to give an approaching car clearance. When almost at a stand-still about 30 or 40 feet from the bridge the approaching car swerved into his vehicle and then struck the car following witness. When Murtagh alighted from his car he was tottering, and Yeates enumerated other suggested signs of intoxication.

In reply to the Magistrate Yeates said Murtagh was not travelling at an excessive speed. He had said he would “fix things up” and had given his name as “Osborne, care Railway Hotel,”

Ronald John Crossman, a passenger in Yeates’ car, stated that the road took a turn to the left over the bridge and Murtagh had carried straight on instead of turning. Crossman said he had asked the passengers of both cars to have a close look at Murtagh, and lie had also stopped a motor-cyclist for the same purpose, He particularly noticed Murtagh’s breath. There was no trace of an Osborne at the Railway Hotel next day.

The rider of the motor-cycle, Clement Parker, Palmerston North, corroborated previous evidence and' expressed the opinion that Murtagh was intoxicated. The drivers of the cars proceeding from Inglewood were sober. To the Magistrate Parker said he did not know whether Murtagh was driving his own or a borrowed car. Crossman, recalled, stated that he knew nothing of a tyro, having blown out and did not think there had been a blowout.

In delivering judgment the' magistrate remarked that it was a particularly bad •case.