SUPREME COURT.

Timaru Herald, Volume CXXV, Issue 18203, 2 March 1929, Page 2

SUPREME COURT.

“AN ERRAND OF MERCY.” By. Telegraph—Press Association. HAAHLTON, Alarch 1. What Judge Blair described as an errand of mercy, was being performed by Andrew Ernest Randrup, farmer, of Hinuera, when his car crashed into a train at the Alatamata crossing one Sunday last August, # causing the death of Airs Tui Rawhiri. Her baby was sick, and Randrup drove the mother and child to Alatamata to consult a doctor. He was returning home with them when the accident occurred. Randrup and the child were injured. Randrup was charged to-day, at the Supreme Court, with negligent driving, causing death. The evidence showed that the train was a special, going to Rotorua, and that, unlike almost all trains, it did not stop at Alatamata station before the crossing where the accident happened When the case came up the last session, the grand jury disagreed. Today, Randrup gave -eyidenc eon his own behalf. He said that as he approached the crossing, he looked twice towards the station, and saw no train. He assumed that there was no danger from that side. Owing to his having a particularly sick child aboard the car, and the road,being rough, he was travelling very carefully. After a retirement of two hours, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty. CHARGE OF BIGAAIY. A charge of bigamy was preferred against a middle-aged woman, Annie Elizabeth Godfrey. According to the Crown Prosecutor, accused, whoso maiden name was Annie Elizabeth Trueman, married Henry Godfrey, at the office of the Registrar at Wellington- in 1902. After five or six years, she went with her husband to Auckland, where she loft him in 1922. In 1926 she went through a form of marriage at the office of the Registrar at Hamilton, with William Leonard Hunt. Accused admitted her marriage with Hunt, /stating that she believed her husband to bo dead at the time. She had read a notice of the death of Henry Godfrey in the “Waikato Times.” The Crown Prosecutor: “And did you not trouble to make any further inquiries aobub him ” —“I did not think it worth while.” The Crown Prosecutor said that a search had been made of the files of the “Waikato Times,” but the alleged notice had not been traced. The jury returned a verdict of not guilty.