MOTORIST FINED

Evening Post, Volume CXXXVIII, Issue 56, 4 September 1944, Page 3

MOTORIST FINED

A fine of £25 and coUs and cancellation of his driving licence for 12 months, was the sentence imposed by Mr. J. L. Stout, S.M., on William Hugh Urqunart, salesman, 36, in the Magistrate's Court today for being intoxi-! cated while in charge of a car in i Willis Street on August 31. Evidence | was given by a police constable that about 1 a.m. on that day he was driving down Willis Street in a police car when he saw the accused sitting behind the wheel of his parked car, with his head lolling back. The constable went to the car, and found the accused with his head back, his eyes closed, and a half-empty bottle of beer between his hands. He shook him and tried to wake him, but the accused didn't move. The constable went to -the Taranaki btreet station and returned with another constable. The accused was then'half in and half out of the car. He was taken to the police station where he was medically examined Sergeant L. Nicholl stated that the accused recovered rapidly after being brought to the station and was almost normal by the time he left, about 2.45 a.m. He responded well to ™J e doctor's tests. The sergeant added that he certainly would not have allowed the accused to drive a car he was in. The accused pleaded not guilty, and his counsel, Mr. W. Jl Stacey, submitted that it was a borderline case. • ? accused had a record of nervous instability, and a few drinks appeared to have the same effect on him as a dozen drinks would have on anyone else The accused admitted having drinks that day, but denied that he was intoxicated.