ALLEGED NEGLIGENCE

Waikato Times, Volume 118, Issue 19634, 22 July 1935, Page 8

ALLEGED NEGLIGENCE

CHARGE AGAINST MAHOOD. •HEARING OF EVIDENCE. Arising out of the 'accident on the Hamilton-Cambridge Road about a mile from Cambridge at 7 p.m. on June 22, John Henry Mahood (26), rabbi ter, of Putaruru, was charged in the Mag • istrate’s Court, Hamilton, this afternoon with negligent driving of a motortruck thereby causing bodily harm to Ernest McClutcheon Tapp. Messrs J. Primrose and A. K. Alexander, J’s.P. presided. DetectiveSergeant J. Thompson'.prosecuted and Mr W. J. King appeared for the defendant.

Constable V. G. Naylor produced a plan of the locality and photographs of the locality and the vehicle concerned. Lydia Maude Stokes, single, of Onehunga, stated that Tapp was a friend and also resided at Onehunga. ' She was walking along the left side of the Hamilton Road with Tapp towards Hamilton on the night of the accident when she head a noise behind her and saws the lights of a motor vehicle. Something struck her and she was knocked to the ground. She got up and summoned a passing motorist. Her dress and -coft were badly torn. No horn was sounded before the accident. Her injuries consisted of abrasions to the head, , injuries to the right foot and shock. Prior to the accident she and Tapp were walking on the edge of the road.

Still Seriously Injured.

Dr. A. L. Wilson, of the medical staff of the Waikato Hospital, testified that Tapp was admitted to hospital on the evening of June 22. He was unconscious and his injuries consisted of a head wound, severe concussion, and extensive abrasions and bruises. It was possible that a later X-ray examinaton.might reveal a fracture of tho skull. Tapp'.s condition remained serious.

James Stephen McMillan, ■ land agent, of Hamilton, said he was motoring towards Hamilton when he was held up by Miss Stokes. He saw Tapp lying on the grass beside the road. Evidence that in company with his sister he was standing at the corner of Vogel Street and in the Hamilton Road was given by Malcolm Douglas Scott, a clerk employed at tiro Magistrate’s Court, Hamilton, lie saw defendant’s truck approaching on the correct side of flic road at a speed of about 30 miles per hour. After tho truck had passed they heard a thud and saw tho vehicle give a. slight lurch to Hie left and a violent lurch to the right. He did not notice, a light on Ihe vehicle, which did not si op. They went, to the scene and saw Tapp lying on the mad. Corroborative evidence was given by Mamie Isabel Seotl, a nurse at Ilia Waikato Hospital. (Proceeding.)