ALLEGED NEGLIGENT DRIVING

Dominion, Volume 21, Issue 112, 9 February 1928, Page 12

ALLEGED NEGLIGENT DRIVING

TRIAL OF ALBERT GOODMAN

CASE FOR THE CROWN ■The trial of Albert Goodman, a horsetrainer, of Trentham, on a charge of negligently driving a motor-car so as to causa bodily injuries to Percy John Aldridge and Norman Parata, began in the Supreme Court yesterday. The Chief Justice (Sir Charles Skerrett) was on the bench, Mr. P. S. K. Macassey (Crown Prosecutor) conducted the case tor the Crown, and accused was repretented by Mr. H. F. O’Leary. The case as outlined by Mr. Macassey vas that on September 17, 1927, between Upper Hutt and Trentham, accused, driving. a motor-car, collided with a' motor-cycle ridden by Aldridge, and with Parata on the pillion. -Both the latter had their right legs broken, Aldridge having to have his amputated. Parata was still in hospital. "Mr. Macassey described the motor-cycle as proceeding ou its correct side of the road at a reasonable speed—between 20 and 25 miles, while it was alleged that Goodman was travelling at excessive speed and swerved to the right, off the 18ft; wide bitumen track to pass a motor-car in front driven- by Wilson Hazelwood, and' collided with the motor-cycle.

Evidence as to speed Was called. Albert Whiteman said Goodman had said after the accident, “I must have been going- some,” He estimated the speed of the motor-cyclists from 20 to 25 miles an hour. When the car had swung across, continued witness, there would have been just enough room for Goodman to cut in, but it would have been, dangerous to have done so. To’Mr. O’Leary : He thought that the swerve made by. Goodman was caused by the speed at which he was gaining on Hazlewood’s car.

Percy John Aldridge, labourer, in evidence, said that he had been going at from 20 to 25 miles an hour before the collisiph. In the brief time which he had to judge Goodman’s speed he set it down at 60 miles, an. hour.

To. Mr. O’Leary: He had no speedometer on his cycle.

Maurice Paul Nottingham thought Goodman’s car was travelling at 35 miles an hour. Maurice Gerald Brown said that he had heard a crash and tracked Goodmail’s car. He had accused Goodman of being drunk and on the wrong side of the ''road. In his opinion the car had been travelling at about 50 miles an hour. To Mr. O’Leary: It was while Goodman passed a 16-foot gap in his fence that he had formed his estimate of the car’s speed. ' '.. Ralph Scholes’s opinion of the speed of the car was from 30 to 40 miles an hour. He thought it was. accelerating. "

Arthur Leslie Harper, of Upper Hutt, who'"moved Goodman’s car, told’ Mr. O’Leary in cross-examination that he took accused to be sober after the accident. ■ .... ~ ■

Herbert Newcombe estimated its speed at'so miles an hour. Constable Wallace, who went to the scene of-the accident, said that-he found Goodman sober. This concluded the case for the Crown. On the application of Mr.. H. F. O’Leary, who said that Goodman had urgent business to attend to, accused was released on bail in the;, sum of £2OO until to-day. DEATH OF PEDESTRIAN BUS-DRIVER ON TRIAL . Dominion Special Service. Palmerston North, February 8. • In answer to a charge that ou December 1, he did cause the death of a man named Brosnan by negligently driving a motor-car, Frank Lawrence Farr, a ■’bus driver, of ...Palmerston North, appeared before His Honour Mr. Justice MacGregor and a jury of twelve in the Palmerston North Supreme-Court this morning. Mr. Cooke, Crown Prosecutor, conducted tlie case for the Crown, and Mr. Cooper appeared for accused, who pleaded not guilty. In outlining the case, Mr. Cooke stated that the accident happened at Bunnythorpe in the early hours of the morning of December 1, when'the accused was .driving a ■’bus with several passengers aboard, back from a dancethat had been held in Bunnythorpe that evening. . AV hen he crossed the railway crossing near the township he struck an elderly man named Brosnan, causing injuries from which he died some few hours later. It was no# alleged that the speed of accused had been too great, but it was alleged that accused showed great negligence in driving od the wrong side of the road and in . having no lights on the car. A plan of the scene of the accident was displayed,., and the-jury also visited the spot. Dr. . .Frank Ward; superintendent at the Palmerston North -Hospital, who stated that Brosnan had been admitted to the Hospital at about 9.30 a.m./on December/2. He died the next evening, never having regained consciousness. -.The injuries were consistent with .those which would be caused by being hit by a motor-car, and it was quite possible that the seriousness,of. the injuries .would not be realised until- several hours afterwards. To Mr. Cooper, witness said that it was possible that the injuries could be caused by -Brosnan falling backwards on the floor of the Glaxo factory, to which ■ place deceased had been assisted after the accident. Evidence was given by Alfred S. (TSten, a railway porter, who was a passenger in the bus driven by Fare on the night of the accident. After the dance hall had been-left, the car ’•pro- - ceeded towards the railway crossing, and when going, over the line he had called the driver’s attention to the fact that there were no lights on. the car. Witness saw a- figure walking along the Toad towards the car, and he

called ■ out . to the driver, "Stop! .Look out! Stop!" and the brakes were immediately' applied." The car, however, ran into the man on the road, who was hit by the centre'of the radiator. Witness then got out of the car in company with some of the other passengers, and was told to put the lights on, to which- he replied, "I don’t think there are any lights to put on.” Matches were lit, and by their light, witness recognised the man who had been hit as Jeremiah Brosnan, who was . employed as nightwatchman at the Glaxo- factory. Mr. Cooke: You are certain the' car was on the wrong side of the road, and that it had no lights? Witness- Yes. Witness stated to Mr. Cooper that four years ago deceased was a heavy drinker. Joseph Godfrey Ellis, an electrician, of Palmerston North, who was also a pasenger, said that there were no lights 'on the car when it started, and he heard O’Sten call the driver’s attention to this. The' car was on the wrong side, and there were no lights on it. The speed of the car, he said, would not be more than 10 miles per hour. Evidence on similar lines was given by John Patrick Norris, railway porter, of Palmerston North, who also was a passenger in the ’bus. John Drinkwater, farm labourer, said t that he was in a gig near Bunnythorpe, . and saw the accident occur. The car j was'on the right, band side of the road, I u<l, u far ag hg could sesg there were j

two parking lights on it, but no headlights. To Mr. Cooper, witness said he was sure the car had parking lights on it. Accused, from the witness-box, said he had trouble in starting the car when coming'back from Bunnythorpe, driving first to the railway line, when he was compelled to go back to get a start to go over the rise in the road. He had two parking lights and the rear light when he started, and when going away from the township bad switched the headlights on. They were still on when he hit Brosnan. The latter, he said, had appeared to come out from the grass at the side of the road about 15ft. in front of the car. He applied the brakes immediately, but the man was knocked down. When the car pulled up it was in the centre of the road. Before he got out of the car he switched off the headlights and put on the parking lights again. The accident was absoluteIv unavoidable. He took deceased to the Glaxo factory some time after the accident, and deceased walked from the door to the engine room without assistance, and in this place witness left him. His Honour expressed surprise at accused leaving deceased in such a way, describing the action as “inhuman.” Further examined, accused said his battery was not discharged, and that Brosnan was perceptibly suffering from drink. , „ , , At this stage the Court adjourned until 49 ff-ta, tp-rnorrow»