MOTORIST CHARGED

Evening Post, Volume CXXV, Issue 21, 26 January 1938, Page 13

MOTORIST CHARGED

ALLEGED HIT AND RUN

CYCLIST'S STORY

CAMBRIDGE TERRACE AFFAIR

Facing a charge of failing to stop after an accident in Cambridge Terrace on November 7, Edward Lyall Young, a carpenter, aged 30, appeared before Mr. JV G. L. Hewitt, S.M., in the Magistrate's Court today. After the hearing of evidence he pleaded not guilty,' and was committed to the Supreme Court for trial.

Sub-Inspector J. A. Dempsey prosecuted, and Mr. J. A. Scott appeared for Young.

Roy Joseph Wynn, a photo engraver, said that between 9 and 9.30 on the night in question he was riding a mo-tor-cycle along Cambridge Terrace towards the city. Cambridge Terrace, he knew, was a one-way street for traffic. He was riding about the middle of the road. His headlight and tail light were burning and he was travelling at about 25 miles per hour. He did not think there were any motorvehicles ahead of him, and he was not aware of any vehicles coming behind him. He was riding parallel with a motor-vehicle on the far side of Cambridge Terrace. He felt a bang and was pushed over on to the side of the road. It came from right behind him. He heard a "sort of a scraping^' at the time. He swung over to the left gutter as the result of the bang, and the bicycle shot from underneath him and left him on the road. He caught a glimpse of the motor-car responsible. It was a brown sedan.

Sub-Inspector Dempsey: Did the mo-tor-vehicle stop?— No.

. Did you see .which way it went after it passed?—No, I just remember seeing it go straight ahead, and I think I lost consciousness.

When he woke up, said witness, another car came back to him. He suffered abrasions to the face.

On examining the motor-cycle afterwards, said witness, he noticed the back mudguard was scratched. At the time he felt the bang he could not see the nose of the car alongside his motor-cycle. He did not see the defendant at the scene of the accident, or at any time that night.

To Mr. Scott, witness said that his lights had not been giving him any trouble. He admitted that he had been charged in the Magistrate's Court on October 27 with not having proper lights, but he had obtained a warrant of fitness the day before the accident. In Cambridge Terrace there was a car, which he was outside, and it seemed to him as if the rest of the road, to the island, was clear. He fell towards the island. No rear vision mirror was on his motor-cycle, said Witness. He saw a rear light on the car which hit him. He could not tell the number of the car, nor did he' see any of the passengers or driver. He did not hear or see anything that signalled its approach. The car in front was going very slowly and he had just caught up on it.

Henry Hayvice said that on November 7 he was driving a small car along Cambridge Terrace towards the city.' He remembered hearing a motorcycle coming behind him, but did not remember^ it catching up to him. There was a clear road ahead, and the visibility was very good. He was travelling about the centre of the road at about 15 to 20 miles per hour, and he could see the lights of another motorcar behind him. They were coming from the right.' He was in no hurry and pulled:tq 'the'-left'ofr the; road: The motor-cyclist continued on, and- the other motor came in between his car and the motor-cyclist. . HEARD A CRASH. Did you hear anything?—l just heard a crash. After he heard the crash the car passed .him, going "pretty fast." Witness waited to see. if the car would stop, and then he chased him and got the number. It was a green sedan. He gave the number to a constable, and to' Mr. Wynn when he came back to the car. When he got back Wynn was picking himself off the road. ■ From the time he first saw the car, until he had lost it, it seemed to go faster, and kept on the right-hand side of Cambridge Terrace. He did not see who was in the car which he chased along the street. To Mr. Scott, witness said that it was a few days after the crash when he saw Constable Hammond. He was not carrying the number round in his head, but wrote it down about half an hour after the events. He gave the make of the car: He could not say Whether or not the motor-cycle had lights: Witness said that he judged the make of the car by the streamlining. TAKING A NUMBER. Winifred Constance Wood said that she was in the car driven by the previous, witness Hay vice.- The car which struck the motor-cycle seemed to be travelling rather fast, and'she noticed a lady sitting next to the driver. She remembered Mr. Hayvice following the car, and they both took the number. She thought it was 16,472. They did not have a pencil, and did not write the number down. On November 16 she ga,ve the number to Constable Hammond. When she last saw the car it was somewhere near the corner of Vivian Street. It was about an hour later when she got home, said witness to Mr.. Scott, and during all that time neither she nor Mr. Hayvice had a pencil or fountain pen. She did not hand Constable Hammond the number on a paper, but told him what it was. She did not have a note of the number, and had I never committed it to writing.

George James Martin Eeles, motor registration clerk, said he had the records of a car registered and licensed by John Wholey, of Wellington. It was an American car, numbered 16,427. The records indicated that it was a new vehicle, but did not give the colouring. He had received no advice that the car had been transferred to any other person.

A police constable stated he had interviewed Young 'on December 30. He was unable to see him earlier because Mr. Wholey had to be fbund. He told Mr. Young what it had been alleged had happened, and gave him the number of the car supposedly responsible. He read a statement taken from the defendant on the evening of November 7, in which he stated he could not recall striking any motorcycle'or any other vehicle on. that evening. The wireless was going in the car.

Constable Hammond said that on November 16 he had interviewed Mr. Hayvice in connection with the accident, and received from him a car number—l 6,427.

Mr. Scott, referring mainly to the evidence regarding the numbers given by the witnesses, submitted that there was no evidence that would convince a jury that Young had been responsible for the accident. Nobody had seen the defendant driving the car, and the three main parties in the accident. Mr. Wynn, Mr. Hayvice, and Miss Wood, could not remember the number.

Mr. Hewitt said that in his opinion the evidence was sufficient for the case to be sent forward.

A memorandum from the Education Department was received at today's meeting of the Wellington Education Board intimating approval of grants totalling £24.029 16s 4d for the rebuilding of Newtown School