£l00 FINE IMPOSED

Press, Volume C, Issue 29505, 5 May 1961, Page 17

£l00 FINE IMPOSED

Young Driver Sentenced

Anthony Earl Thomas, aged 21. a driver, was fined £lOO and disqualified from driving for five years when he apneared for sentence before Mr Justice Macarthur in the Supreme Court yesterday on a charge of negligent driving causing death. Thomas had been found guilty by a jury on a charge of negligently driving his car in High street, thereby causing the death of Margaret Mary Jennings, a married woman, a pedestrian on a pedestrian crossing at the time of the collision. The nrisoner’s record showed that he was irresponsible in the ownership and driving of motor vehicles, and it was his duty to protect the public from the prisoner’s driving for a substantial period, said his Honour. The prisoner in October. 1959. had been disqualified from driving for three months, and a vear later had been disoualified for six months. He doubted if the jury would have recommended leniency if it had known the prisoner's previous driving record. "The plain truth is that you failed to keep a proper look-out and killed a woman on a pedestrian crossing in broad davlight,” his Honour said to Thomas. However, the prisoner had an excellent work record and was only 21. The probation officer’s report on him was favourable. Connsei’s Plea For Thomas, Mr J. G. Leggat said the prisoner had a clear record excent for motoring offences. He submitted that the penalties imposed in the lower Court were "modest ones.” The prisoner was a good worker and a good son to his parents. The present offence was one of omission rather than commission. It was a moment of inadvertance at a critical time in his driving. "I submit that the. Jury, by adding a recommendation for leniency, took the view that it was a momentary distraction rather than that of a wantonly reckless or careless driver.” Mr C. M. Roper, for the Crown, made no submissions.