TRAGEDY RECALLED

Bay of Plenty Beacon, Volume 10, Issue 62, 13 December 1946, Page 5

TRAGEDY RECALLED

RECENT MOTOR ACCIDENT

DRIVER COMMITTED FOR SENTENCE

A recent tragedy in which four Maoris were thrown from the back of a moving truck, one of them being killed, was recalled in the Whakatane Court yesterday, when Koro Wahapango (Mr Barry) aged 29, a native employee of the Public Works Department, resident at f " Paroa, appeared on a charge of

negligently driving' a motor truck on the Whakatane-Roto-rua State Highway, thereby causing the death of Renata Hohapata. Messrs. C. S. Arm-, strong and J. King J.P.s were on the Bench, the former also acting in his capacity of District Coroner. A plea of guilty was entered, and accused was committed to the Supreme Court, Auckland, for sentence.

Sergeant Farrell stated that at 2.10 p.m. on the afternoon of October 20, in response to a telephone

message, he went to the scene of the

accident. He noticed a car that had i stopped on the left hand side of the Yoad at an angle of forty-five decrees, and lying in front of it was a Maori, who appeared to be dead.

The radiator of the car was bent in. .From enquiries, he learnt that deceased had been thrown .from the back of a truck, the driver of which was at that moment taking some other injured Maoris into the hospital. When the . truck returned, he recognised the driver, and ascertained that he was perfectly sober. He had procured the services of a photographer and the County Engineer who had photographed the spot and taken measurements. In answer to Mr Barry’s crossexamination, Sergeant Farr,ell affirmed that accused bore an excellent character; he was a sober hardworking man, and had never been in trouble before. He was perfectly satisfied that there was no question

‘Of liquor involved, accused having i been examined by a doctor immediately after tfie accident. Dr. Richard Akel stated that at 2 p.m. the date in question, he was called to the scene of the accident. There he examined the body of one of the victims, who was already dead. It was possible that the injuries could have been caused through being thrown against a motor car.’

Motorists’ Evidence

.Ruby Pearl Canning'Martin stated that at the time of the accident she was driving her husband’s car. He was in the front seat with her, and the car was on the correct side -of the road. Wlien nearing the junction of the highway at Poroporo, she noticed a truck approaching at high speed. It was on j the correct' .side of the road, but when it endeavoured to negotiate the corner, it broadsided,, and came straight towards the car driven by witness, who was driving very slowly at that tme. When the truck was almost on to the car, it swerved violently to the left, and several men were thrown off the back into the air. By this time, witness had stopped at the side' of the road. She felt two bumps, and later learned that as a result of being thrown against the car, one of the men had been killed. Witness had been driving for 20 years, and had never been involved in an accident. Peter Neil Martin, owner of the car concerned, gave corroborativeevidence, adding that on going to the rear of the car, after the accident, he noticed one Maori picking himself up, and two others lying in the mud and water. Another man, he noticed, was lying with his head under the front bumper of the car.

Accused’s Statement

In a statement to the Police, accused said that at 11 a-.m. on October 20, he had left Paroa with three Maoris on the back of the truck, bound for Whakatane. After picking up another Maori some two miles along the road, the party stopped at Mr Harawira’s place, and stayed talking for an hour and a half. No liquor whatsoever was consumed. Continuing to Whakatane, they were approaching the junction of the Tauranga and Rotorua State Highway when his speed proved too great for the truck to round the corner, and he was forced over on to the wrong side of the road. He noticed a car approaching from the opposite direction, He swerved violently back to the correct side of the road.. The passenger riding in the cab with him then told him that the men on the back had been thrown off. He turned and went back, and saw that three of them had been injured, one, as it transpired, fatally. He had taken the other two to the hospital in the truck. Deceased was a friend of his. Witness had been driving a car for

eight years, and during that time had never been involved in an 'accident. ; , As stated above, accused was committed to the Supreme Court, Auckland, for sentence. Bail was allowed, accused, and one surety, in the'sum own and another of £IOO each.