NOT GUILTY VERDICT

Dominion, Volume 35, Issue 259, 31 July 1942, Page 7

NOT GUILTY VERDICT

Negligent Driving Charge TAW A FLAT ACCIDENT After a trial lasting four days, Douglas Hector MacDonald Bruce, aged 41, garage proprietor, was found- not; guilty by a jury in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday, on all the charges which were preferred against him following a fatal motor accident at Tiiwa Flat .on . May 26, when a car Mrlren by Bruce was alleged to have struck Anthony Sutherland. Bruce was charged with negligent driving causing death, failing to stop after an accident, and failing to ascertain whether he had injured anyone. The jury returned their verdict after a retirement of an hour and a half, and Bruce was discharged. . . In his summing up Mr. Justice Blair said that in no time in a criminal case did the onus shift to the accused to prove his innocence. If the Crown pimply presented a possibility, and did not establish a fact, then that was no case to go to a jury. He said that when events happened in a fraction of a second -persons who gave conflicting reports were not necessarily lying, as the human mind could not absorb every event;. It was not disputed that it was Bruces •car which caused the fatal injuries to Sutherland. The only mutter left for the jury to decide was whether or not Bruces car had been properly lighted, and rising from this was the question of whether any want of lighting resulted in Sutherland’s death.. Though stronger proot was often required in a criminal case than a civil one. the measure of care the law required of a driver was precisely the same. The accident took place in an area where there were no lighting restrictions, and consequently, the law required ordinary car lights in that area. His Honour asked whether, if the car had been equipped with bright lights, would ho not oh a long straight have been able to pick up two pedestrians. Dealing with the second and .hiru counts, hip Honour said it. was common ground that Bruce drove on, and that he could not be convicted. unless the C rown had established that ho know he hud hit someone. If he had known this, then regardless of the question of negligence, it was his duty to stop, ascertain whether anyone had been hurt, and render ail possible assistance. The Crown asked the jury to accept that the circumstances accompanying the collision were such us to eliminate the possibility of Bruce making any mistake about what he had done. Referring to the theory of the. defence that it had been Sutherland 8 attache case, and not his body, wnieh had smashed the ear’s windscreen, his Honour said Unit if n case sprang up. from somewhere it. was fair to assume that there was someone somewhere in tne vicinity. Referring to accused’s conduct after the accident, his Honour said that the normal action of u man running away was Io bide, but accused told • frieiids be had hud an accident, and later got in touch with the police. Mr. AV. 11. Cunningham appeared at the trial for the Crown, and Dr. O. Mazengarb for Bruce.