Magistrate’s Court Charges Of Dangerous Driving On North Road

Press, Volume C, Issue 29506, 6 May 1961, Page 14

Magistrate’s Court Charges Of Dangerous Driving On North Road

Johannus Albertus Brand, aged 33. a crane driver, was convicted of dangerous driving and assault when he appeared before Mr A. P. Blair. S.M., in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. The charges arose from incidents on the Main North road and in Blenheim road on December 18. Evidence was given that Brand overtook and cut in on a van driven by David Victor Dodge, and struck his vehicle. Pursued by Dodge. Brand forced Dodge's van over to the right into the path of an oncoming car, and when Dodge and his passengers approached Brand in the driveway of his brother’s house where Brand had stopped. Brand ordered them off the property and then struck one of the passengers above the eye. Brand pleaded not guilty to charges of dangerous driving, assaulting the passenger, and failing to stop after an accident. The latter charge was dismissed. On the first charge Brand was fined £l5 and had his driving licence cancelled for 18 months. He was fined £lO on the assault charge. Dodge, aged 22. a bulldozer driver (Mr G. T Mahon) also faced a charge of dangerous driving as a result of the incident. The Magistrate reduced the charge to one of driving without due care and attention. He said he regarded the offence as a bad case of its type, but accepted submissions that Dodge's actions resulted from his trying to pursue Brand after Brand had struck his vehicle. Dodge was fined £lO on the reduced charge, and his driving licence was suspended for one month. Dodge gave evidence that Brand pulled in ahead of his vehicle, striking his right front mudguard. Later, at Chaneys corner Brand pulled out while Dodge’s van was travelling alongside and forced Dodge across to the right hand side. Another car approaching on the bend had to pull over to its left on to the grass verge. Dodge said he followed Brand's car to a house in Blenheim road. He and his three passengers walked up the drive to discuss the damage from the collision, but Brand ordered them off Brand struck one of the passengers, Malcolm Alexander Anderson, above the eye. Cross-examined by Brand. Dodge said there were four persons, himself and three passengers, in the front seat of his light van. Anderson had a young woman sitting on his knee, but side visibility was not affected because of this, Dodge said. John Good, a printer, and Constable R. G. Carson were called to give evidence in the charges against both Brand and Dodge. Both witnesses told of overtaking by each and forcing each other across the road. Brand, in evidence, said Dodge accelerated and tried to stop him from getting into the line of traffic. He said he tried to break away from Dodge when Dodge was travelling outside him at Chaneys corner because of the dangerous situation it was creating. While Dodge was travelling abreast his view was obscured to the left because of his passengers, Brand said. He said he struck Anderson when he started arguing after he and his friends had been told to leave Brand’s brother’s premises. 10 DAYS’ GAOL Ten days’ imprisonment was imposed on Ernest Malcolm Smith, aged 45, when he appeared on a charge of being found drunk in Antigua street on May 4. He pleaded guilty. It was his third conviction for drunkenness within the last six months. The Magistrate told Smith this was his fifth conviction for this type of offence. He had been fined in the past, but could not expect further leniency. DISQUALIFIED DRIVER Basil Sydney Besley, aged 18, who pleaded guilty to a charge of driving while disqualified in Colombo street on March 2, was told by the Magistrate that imprisonment was usually imposed for this offence, but he would accept submissions made by Besley’s counsel, Mr S. H. Wood. “You seem to have gone ‘haywire’ earlier this year, but it is hoped you have reformed lately,” the Magistrate said. If there was a recurrence of the offence Besley would undoubtedly be imprisoned. Besley was fined £2O for driving while disqualified, and his disqualification was extended by a year. He was convicted and discharged for having no warrant of fitness. STOLE SHOTGUN After he had been lent a shotgun valued at £l2 10s in December. 1959, Douglas Bass, aged 42, a labourer, sold it to another person for £l5, and it was recovered recently by its owner, who saw it in the window of a city auction rooms, said Senior - Sergeant G. M. Cleary. Bass pleaded guilty to the theft of the shotgun, the property of David Robert Clark He was fined £lO and was ordered to pay restitution of £l5 to the person to whom he sold the shotgun. Senior-Sergeant Cleary said that on a number of occasions after Clark had lent the shotgun Bass arranged to meet him and give it back, but did not keep the appointments. He admitted to the police that he had sold it shortly after Clark had lent it to him. DANGEROUS DRIVING Checked by police at speeds of up to 50 miles an hour through city and

suburban streets about 145 a.m. on April 1, Douglas Geoffrey Strachan said when overtaken in Redruth avenue, Spreydon, that he had his girl friend with him and was running late in getting her home, said Constable P. B. Peoples. Strachan, aged 20. a factory worker, was convicted on a charge of dangerous driving. He was fined £l5, and had his driving licence cancelled for one year. Constable Peoples said Strachan’s car was seen travelling at high speed in Manchester street It travelled along Moorhouse avenue and Colombo street, reaching speeds of 45 to 50 miles an hour, and skidded into Brougham street at 40 miles an hour, narrowly missing the kerb. The car again reached 50 miles an hour in Brougham street. SERIES OF OFFENCES Fines and costs totalling £2O IDs were imposed on John Arthur Gay for a series of motor-cycling offences committed in Fleming street, New Brighton, on the evening of April 1. Gay was fined £5 for having no driving licence, and £2 on each charge of having no warrant of fitness, having no licence label affixed to the machine, having no registration plates affixed, and operating the motor-cycle without lights. Gay was also prohibited from driving for six months. REMANDED Daniel Martin Tinsley, aged 28, was remanded on bail to May 11 on a charge of unlawfully converting a car valued at £550, the property of David Terence Otgen, on May 4. TRAFFIC CASES On traffic charges brought by the police offenders were dealt with as follows: Driving without due care and attention: Robert George Buchanan, £5; Archibald William Fraser. £3; Samuel Weir John McVicker, £6: Desmond Harold Nash, £5 (no warrant of fitness, £2); David Joseph O’Rourke, £5; Samuel Thomas Hodge, £5. No warrant of fitness: Hector Trevor Cockle, £2; Donald McLean Mitchell, £2; Daniel David Robin. £3. Failing to stop at compulsory sign: Edwin William Read, £3 (no warrant of fitness, £2). Failing to give way: Peter Reece, £5; Eric James Smith, £5. (Before Mr Raymond Ferner S.M.) CHARGE DISMISSED A charge against Anthony Herbert O'Hagen, aged 20, of driving without due care and attention in Cathedral square on January 22 was dismissed. O’Hagen, who was represented by Mr H. W. Thompson, pleaded not guilty. Senior-Sergeant Cleary said that the defendant drove through the area reserved for buses in Cathedral square at 11.15 p.m. on January 22, and as a result of his doing so there was an accident at the northern end of the square. He said that the defendant had committed a breach of the city by-laws by driving through this area. Mr Thompson said it was a frequent practice for cars to drive through the middle of the square after 11 p.m. and it did not warrant a conviction for driving without due care and attention against the defendant. DRIVERS FINED For driving without due care and attention Alan Edwin Singer was fined £5. and for failing to report an accident to the police within 24 hours, he was also fined £5. Ronald Cliff was fined £3 for driving without due care and attention. (Before Mr E S. J. Crutchley, S.M.) PROBATION Anthony John Howard, aged 19, was placed on probation for 18 months when he appeared for sentene on a charge of Stealing £2 from the Golden Moon cafe on April 9, Mr G. R. Lascelles, who appeared for Howard, said that drink had been the main factor in the offence. “It is easy to step from the pavement into the gutter,” said the Magistrate to Howard. “You have now got to step back, and this is a hard step to make.” LICENSING OFFENCE For selling liquor after hours, Catherine Coffey, licensee of the Caledonian Hotel, was fined £7 10s. She pleaded guilty, and was represented by Mr W. F. Brown. Sergeant T. A. A. Marson said that police visited the hotel at 9.15 p.m. on March 17. They saw a man enter the premises and a few minutes later leave with half a dozen bottles of beer. Mrs Coffey admitted selling him the beer. CHARGES DISMISSED A charge of driving without due care and attention against David Daniel Gillespie Finnie (Mr J. H. F. McFarlane) was dismissed, as was a similar charge against Edward Brian Clothier (Mr J. A. Bretherton).