£100 FINE.

Press, Volume LXIII, Issue 19142, 27 October 1927, Page 11

£IOO FINE.

GUILTY OF NEGLIGENCE. ' BAGBY ACQUITTED OF MANSLAUGHTER. [THE TRESS SpeeUl Serric*.} AUCKLAND, October C 6. The* well-known jockey, Walter Scott Bagbv, stood his trial in the Supreme Court this morning before Mr Justice lieed, on charges of manslaughter and negligently driving a motor-car on Manukau road ou September 26th last. The charges arose out of a fatal accident in Manukau road, in which Mrs Sarah Elizabeth Short was knocked down by a motor-car and killed. Her grandson, Leslie Howard Hoskiug, who accompanied her, was injured. Mr V. N. Hubble prosecuted, while accused, who pleaded not guilty, uas represented by Mr Allan Moody. _ Mr Hubble said the question the jury would have to determine was whether or not accused exercised reasonable precaution while in charge of the motorcar. Juries, by their decisions in cases of the nature before the Court set the standard of caro in the community. Counsel "said that when the accident happened Mrs Short and her grandson had stepped off the pavement in Manukau road in order to board a tramcar which was pulling up. The little boy, who just missed jumping clear of accused's car, said he expected the latter to stop, but it did not. The evidenco indicated that accused checked h speed for a while while Mrs Slwrt was being dragged by the car, but when she was clear he seemed to accelerate and literally "went for his life." Subsequently accused visited the police station and tried to create the impression that some person had removed his car and was responsible for the accident. However, a subsequent statement by him showed there was no question that he was tho driver of the car.

Evidence was then given on the lines of that of witnesses in the Lower Court. No evidence was called for the defence, but Mr Moody addressed tho panel at some length. "You havo before you a boy of 20, and you must not expect of him the Btandard of care and judgment looked for iiKa man of mature years," said counsel. The Judge objected to the form of that statement, whereupon Mr Moody continued his address with reference to the general standard of care in such cases. Accused, he reminded the jury, had just concluded his term of apprenticeship as a jockey, and was given a good character by the police. "I make no ad misericordiam appeal," continued counsel. The onuß was on the Crown, he said, to prove three things: that accused failed to keep a proper look-out, that he passed a standing tramcar, and that he drove at an excessive speed, but the evidence went to show that, the tramcar had not stopped when he came abreast of it, and there was no suggestion that Bagby was racing.

This, said the Judge, was an important case in a day when 1 it was common knowledge that motoring accidents throughout the Dominion were on the increase, and at least half of them, ho believed, were due to negligence. It was merely necessary to walk the streets of Auckland, as in other cities, to witness many, examples of motorists' recklessness where accidents were averted purely by good luck." "If," his Honour continued, "juries say: /This man is of good charactor, a decent chap; the poor beggar didn't mean to do it; give him a show and let him off,' then a casual standard of driving .will'be set." In 99 cases, out df 100; the Judge, said, motorists "involved in accidents were "decent fellows," but their conduct at the wheel of a car had to be governed. Before the Court was a case in which there was no conflict of evidence except that customary in respect to speed. His Honour asked the jury, in setting a standard of care for driving in the City of Auckland, to consider whether accused had acted rightly. The jury, which retired at 2.50 o'clock, returned at 4.30 to. ask whether finding Bagby guilty of negligence constituted proof of manslaughter. The Judge gave an affirmative reply. The. jury finally returned with a verdict of guilty of negligent driving of a motor-car, causing the death of Mrs Short.

He was fined £IOO, and his driving license was cancelled for two years. He was allowed a month in which to pay. He was acquitted on the manslaughter charge.