Woman committed for trial after fatal crash

Press, 11 April 1979, Page 4

Woman committed for trial after fatal crash

As a result of a fata! motor accident in Christ- : church on September 5 last i year, a 31-year-old shop assistant was committed to 1 the Supreme Court for trial after the taking of depositions in the Magistrate’s Court yesterday. Appearing before' Messrs i D. H. Hemsley and V. C. Clarke, Justices of the Peace, Pamela Shakes faced two charges of causing the death of William Bartholomew Carr by driving a motor car dangerously on Madras Street, and of causing death while driving with an excess blood/alcohol count. Two further charges of{ driving with an excess blood/alcohol count, and of driving a vehicle without a current warrant of fitness were adjourned until June 29. Thirteen witnesses were! called by the prosecutor (Detective Sergeant D. Por-| teous). Constable Peter James! Wilson gave evidence that: he had identified the body of Mr Carr, aged 38 years, hav-l ing known the deceased foil about 18 years. David Neville Howley, a: St John ambulance driver told the Court that he had gone to the scene of the accident at 10.07 pm. and taken Mr Carr to Christchurch Hospital. Carr was suffering from multiple injuries and died in hospital the next morning. Doctor Jeffrey Luey, the registrar at the intensive care unit at the hospital, said that Mr Carr had been admitted in a very severe state of shock, with extern sive skull fractures, brain damage, a fractured pelvis, and very marked internal bleeding. Mr Carr was taken into the operating theatre where his condition continued to deteriorate, and he' died at 2.25 a.m. the next! day. I Doctor Patrick Robert Kelliher. a pathologist, had con-| ducted a postmortem and I found the cause of Mr Carr si death to be the result of! multiple injuries. Arnold Frederick McDon-1 aid. an automotive sur- { veyor with the Ministry of! Works had inspected the! two vehicles involved in the! accident. The deceased’s car had been struck severely on the right side and the driver's door had been pushed inwards and the seat squashed. In Mr McDonald's opinon the defendant's car

was in reasonable condition and would nor have required much attention to have, been issued with a new warrant of fitness. Lloyd Cyril Reid. an engineering contractor, was! the passenger in the Carr’s 1 car on the night of the acci-i dem. The two men were return-: ing to Mr Carr's home along: Lichfield Street, travelling: within the speed limit. As they approached the! intersection of Lichfield and Madras Streets the traffic! lights were green. “I was knocked out and have, no recollection of how the accident happened,” said Mr Reid. Michael John Prendergast, a driver/salesman. told the Court that he and a fellow employee had made a delivery in Lichfield Street and (were behind the Mini when the accident happened. I ‘The Mini went through on a green light and all of a (sudden there was a flash of Hights and a big bang,” said jMr Prendergast. I He said the weather was [fine, rogd surface dry, and {visibility good. I David Allan Wilson, an 'accountant, had been driving :

i along Madras Street and had; I stopped on a red light at the! i Lichfield Street intersection.: . He noticed in his rear vision mirror that a car was ap-l proaching very fast. He said >lhe could see a Mini ap-l Jproaching the intersection ■(along Lichfield Street. [ The Holden motor-carl ■{swung out to pass his ’ stationary car, entered the ’{intersection on a red light, {and collided with the Mini, ■i Sergeant Jeffrey James I Taylor had attended the actlcident and made inquiries. He considered the defendant I to be affected by alcohol. ”Her face was flushed, I movements un-co-ordinated. and her speech was repeti- ’ live and slurred.” he said. ' A blood sample was later found to contain 230 milli- , grams of alcohol per 100 . millilitres of blood. Constable Maurice Wilj liam Edward Smith had [ interviewed the defendant at f her home on September 12. 1 The Justices of the Peace concluded that a prima facie s case had been established. 1 Shakes pleaded not guilty to the charges and was comt miffed to the Supreme Court > for trial on May 7. ■