CASE DISMISSED

Hawke's Bay Herald-Tribune, Volume 81, Issue 64, 8 December 1937, Page 9

CASE DISMISSED

Motorist Receives Benefit of Doubt INTOXICATION CHARGE "There is some doubt in this case, and I have to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt,11 said Mr J. Miller, S.M., in the Hastings Magistrates' Court yesterday afternoon as he dismissed an information against Jamea Stephen Dunn, of Hastings, labourer, for being intoxicated in charge of a motor vehicle. Dunn, who was coming from the south on a motor bicyele last month to attend a funeral fell from the machine at Pakipaki, and was arrested on a charge of intoxication. At tfie hearing yesterday, however, he 'called medical evidence to show that his condition was caused by the accident. Senior-Sergeant G. Sivyer prosecuted and Mr W. Selwyn Averill appeared in defence. When the hearing resumed yesterday afternoon- Dr. R. Cashmore said that defendant had been suffering from th-i aft-er-affects of concu&don., The blow on the lin would be suffieient to cause this condition. At a Iater visit the defendant showed signs of contusion of the brain. Many of the symptoms, such as. giddiness when his head turned to the left were of head injuries, and not of alcaholism. In reply to a question from the Bench, witness said that such head injuries could be feigned. The feigniug could be done only with a knowledge of the effects of concussion, and a knowledge of the progress of a case. To the Bench, witness said that the appearance of the symptoms might sometimes be delayed. The Magistrate commented that the case was one of the most difficult the Bench was called upon to decide. The majority of cases of intoxication that came before the Court presented no difficulty — they were just a matter of deciding whether a man had had suffieient drink to make his incapable of properly contrdlling a motor vehicle. "Here there are complications because there has been an accident involving head injuries, 11 he continued. "This case demonstrates the risks people xun in drinking ever so slightly while they are driving a motor-car. L, is well kiiown that even slight injuries may produce symptoms commonly connected with alcoholism. "There is one class of case, and this is one, when apparently the injuries are such that at first sight they would not produce the symptoms this ffias. evidenced, so that the police had uo option but to arrest him and bring him to the police station. There is a doubt in this case, and I have to give the defendant the benefit of the doubt. The information will he dismissed. 11 .