TWO YEARS’ PROBATION
NEGLIGENT MOTORIST. £6O FINE BY* INSTALMENTS. " MITIGATING CIRCUMSTANCES.** A strong recommendation to mercy, made by the Jury when they returned a verdict of guilty, was taken Into account by Mr Justice Callan in the Supreme Court, Hamilton, yesterday afternoon when sentencing Ernest Alwyn Plummer, aged 25. commercial traveller, of Auckland. Plummer was tried on a charge of negligent driving causing the death of a widow, Eileen Courtney, on the Great South Road at Horotiu about 10.15 a.m. on November 23. Mr H. T. Gillies conducted the Crown case and Mr H. E. Barrowclough (Auckland) appeared for tb« accused. 1 The jury returned after three hours with a verdict of guilty, with a strong recommendation to mercy. On behalf of the accused Mr Barrowclough said his client was admittedly of irreproachable character and he felt assured that His Honour would consider the Jury’s recommendation. He was employed at a wage of £3 16s a week and contributed £1 10s weekly to ihe family Income. If his driving license were affected he would lose his employment. "Notwithstanding the gravity of the offence there are mitigating circumstances,” said His Honour. "It has been established that the accused drove with less care and judgment than was required of him. There has been no callousness or gross disregard of others, but only thoughtlessness and carelessness. I believe the knowledge that that carelessness resulted In the death of a fellow creature and that that is the judgment of his fellow men is in itself a severe punishment. I will take a course so that the punishment will fall on him and not on his family. I will not interfere with his license since his livelihood is dependent on its retention.” The accused was admitted to two years’ probation, a special condition being that In that time he pays from his earnings a total fine of £SO by instalments of £i weekly, or such smaller instalment as the probation officer may from time to time think fit.
Permanent link to this item
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/WT19360220.2.31
Bibliographic details
Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19815, 20 February 1936, Page 6
Word Count
333TWO YEARS’ PROBATION Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19815, 20 February 1936, Page 6
Using This Item
Stuff Ltd is the copyright owner for the Waikato Times. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons BY-NC-SA 3.0 New Zealand licence. This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of Stuff Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in