MOTORIST FINED £l00

Wanganui Chronicle, Volume 79, Issue 111, 12 May 1936, Page 8

MOTORIST FINED £l00

SEQUEL TO FATAL ACCIDENT NEGLIGENT DRIVING JURY ADDS RIDER [ Per Press Association. | AUCKLAND, May 11. A motorist, John Reginald Smith, company manager, who had been found guilty of negligent driving causing death, was fined £lOO in the Supreme Court by Air Justice Fair. The accident happened on the night of February 23, the victim, John Beeston, being knocked down when crossing a road. Mr Singer, who appeared for Smith, stressed that the jury had added a rider strongly recommending meicv. holding that in its unanimous opinion deceased had contributed in no surd! measure to the accident. His Honour stated that ’he jury’s verdict of negligent driving was. in his opinion, the only conclusion that it could reasonably have come tc. He was prepared to give full effect to the jury’s decision that deceased’s art had contributed to the fatality, having regard also to the fact that the negligence was restricted to failure to keep a proper look out during a short period, that there were no Circumstances of aggravation and that accused’s character had been exemplary in the past. His Honour said said the ends of justice would be met by ordering Smith to pay a fine of £lOO.