Magistrate’s Court Two Of Three Charges After Accident Dismissed

Press, Volume CVI, Issue 31083, 11 June 1966, Page 23

Magistrate’s Court Two Of Three Charges After Accident Dismissed

Charges against Kenneth i George Thomas, aged 28, ai driver (Mr M. F. Hobbs), of failing to stop after an acci-i dent in Stanmore road on November 6 and failing to ascer-j tain whether anyone had i been injured, were dismissed j by Mr H. J. Evans, S.M., in] the Magistrate's Court yesterday.

On a charge of careless use of a vehicle. Thomas was con-1 victed and fined £B, and was disqualified from driving for) one month, except during his I employment. He pleaded not guilty to all! charges. Traffic Officer T. Laurier said that while he was assist-! ing the police at a serious ac-| cident near the Stanmore | road-Gloucester street inter-] section about 10.30 p.m. on November 6, the defendant! crossed the intersection in his: car at a speed between 10 > and 15 miles an hour. About] 90ft along Stanmore roadl Thomas's car hit Christopher] Roy Ashley Hogan, who was 9ft from the kerb. Hogan, wearing a white reflective belt, was sweeping glass from the earlier accident from the road.

Thomas’s car slowed, then continued. The witness said he stopped Thomas between Gloucester and Armagh

streets. When he asked Thomas why he did not stop, Thomas said he had not felt a bump and did not know he had hit anyone. Asked whether he had been in an accident, Thomas said he had not. The witness said he then pointed to a recent dent on the left front mud- ■ guard of Thomas’s car where paint was missing. Thomas said that possibly the witness had put the dent in the mud- ! guard. The witness took Thomas back to the accident, gave him a traffic notice, and ] picked up several pieces of I green paint from the road which matched the paint on I Thomas’s car.

As a result of the previous accident one vehicle was resting on the footpath against a power pole, and a patrol car and a breakdown truck were present, both with red lights flashing. In evidence, Thomas said that he noticed a number of persons congregated near the earlier accident. “I did not see any person on the roadway in front of me,” said Thomas. “I do not know why I did not see Hogan. I did not believe I hit him.”

THEFT In a reserved decision, the

Magistrate convicted Bevin Charles Garlick, aged 20, a grocery assistant (Mr D. H. Stringer), on two charges of theft while employed as a servant of Martin’s Fooderama on March 14. Garlick was remanded on bail to June 20 for sentence.

The Magistrate said that twice the accused had received money for purchases and had rung on to the cash register lesser amounts than those of the purchases. The deficiencies were £1 and 9s, and when the cash in the register was checked, there was a small deficit instead of a surplus of £1 9s. The Magistrate said that he was not satisfied with the reasons given by the defence to explain the cash position in the cash register, and the accused would be convicted. CARELESS USE Denis Gallavin, aged 62, a plumber (Mr L. M. O’Reilly) pleaded not guilty to a charge that in Ferry road on January 10 he used a car carelessly. He was convicted and fined £5. (Before Mr K. H. J. Headlfen, S.M.) DROVE UNDER INFLUENCE A fine of £5O and cancellation of his driver's licence for three years was imposed on John McLean, aged 64, a retired horse trainer, when he was convicted on a charge of driving on Moorhouse avenue while under the influence of drink or drugs on June 9. He pleaded guiltv. Detective-Sergeant B. I. C. Kimber said that at 4.40 p.m. McLean was driving In Moorhouse avenue and he struck a parked car, causing extensive damage. McLean said he had been to a funeral and had drunk some liquor afterwards but he declined to say how much. A doctor certified him unfit to drive. WILFUL DAMAGE Charged with wilfully damaging a shirt on June 9, Anthony Robert Joyce, aged 24, was convicted and fined £lO and ordered to make restitution of £2. He pleaded guilty. FALSE TELEGRAM Reginald Howard George McGaughey, aged 21, a driver, pleaded guilty to a charge that on March 18, he sent from Auckland a telegram purporting sent by Patricia Ann Julian. He was convicted and fined £5. REMANDED Charged with unlawfully getting into a fire engine worth £3500, the property of the Christchurch Fire Board, on June 10, William James Bardsley, aged 43, a bank teller, was remanded on bail to June 16. No plea was taken. CHARGES DISMISSED A charge of careless use of a vehicle at the intersection of Church road and the Main South road at Templeton, on February 19, against Alan John Fraser, aged 31, a freezing worker (Mr B. A. Barrer) was dismissed. Fraser had pleaded not guilty. On a further charge of not having a current warrant of fitness on the same date, to which he pleaded guilty, he was convicted and fined £3. Anthony David Thomas, aged 21, a customs clerk (Mr A. R. Cottrell) pleaded not guilty to a charge that on February 2 in Durham street near the Intersection with Tuam street he used a motor-scooter carelessly. The Magistrate dismissed the charge. OTHER TRAFFIC CASES In other traffic cases brought by the police, convictions were entered and fines imposed as follows, with costs £1 10s in each case:— Careless use: Anthony David Pringle, £10: Kevin Rooney, £8: Ernest James Plato, £10; Alan LyaM Falconer, £10; Findlay Thomas Hobbs, £5 (failed to report accident, costs only); Malcolm Ernest Robin. £8 and disqualified, from driving for three months (no warrant of fitness, £3: Norman Frederick Beynon, £10: John Hendrick de Wvs, £5: Arthur Dalton, £6; lan Stanley Kave, £6.

Failed to give way: Marie Dominica Redmond, £5; Roger Maxwell King, £5; Ivan Ralph Walker, £8: Robin Alexander Betts, £8; Mervyn Robert William Weekes, £8; Richard John Shield, £5; Arthur Renzie Hannam, £8; Lyndon Patrick Walsh, £B.

Failed to produce licence for endorsement: Edward Blomfield Munro, £lO, disqualified for three months: Brian Francis Jago, £lO, disqualified for three months from June 17. Operating unsafe vehicle 'liable to cause injury: David John Manuel, £lO and disqualified from driving for three months.

Proceeded from stop sign before way was clear: Gavin Tames Barclay, £6. Rode cycle without front ight: Stanley Spencer, £1 (no rear red light, £1). Failed to produce driver’s Icence: Raymond Clive Frew. E 3. No warrant of fitness: Raymond Ward, £l.