SUPREME COURT.
IN DECENT ASS AULT
(By Telegraph—Per Pr'ss Association.)
HAMILTON, Nov. 27. Jn the Supreme Court, Frederick William Cornford Goucher pleaded guilty to five counts of indecent assault, and was remanded for sentence till Friday. JUDGE’S COMPLIMENTS. WTjcu the Supreme Court sessions opened to-day, Mr Justice Smith, presiding, congratulated the district on the iiglit list, there being only two criminal cases.
The whole day was spent in healing a charge of alleged perjury against Percy "William Phillips, who was found not guilty and discharged.
MOTORISTS AND LEVEL CROSSINGS.
HAMILTON, Nov. 27
There was an unusual position in the Supreme Court to-day, arising out of the disagreement of the Grand Jury.
Andrew Ernest Randrup, a Matamata farmer, whose motor car collided with a train, with fatal resales to two passengers, Airs Toi Rawhiri and her infant daughter, came before the Court, clu lrged with negligent driving and causing death.
Twenty-one jurymen were empannellcd, and as less than 12 voted a true bill, Mr Justice Blair found no bill.
Describing the case, in his charge to the Grand Jury, his Honour said Randrup had driven two Maori women and a baby to Afatamata to see a doctor. He was returning home with them. There was a belt of trees noni tiie crossing, obscuring the view to some extent. The train was a special express, and went through the station at Alatamata at forty miles an hour. At this rate the train would take ten seconds to reach the crossing from the point at which it was obsemed by trees. By Statute there was an obligation on motorists to approach a crossing at not more than ten miles an hour, and to stop before actually crossing. Certainly the rule about stopping was usually broken, but it was specifically laid down that this must be done. As the Grand Jury had only to decide whether there was a primn facie case, they would pnoalilv have no difficulty.
The Grand Jury retired at 10.30 and returned at 3.30, unable to agree.
The Judge discharged Randrup
Permanent link to this item
Hononga pūmau ki tēnei tūemi
https://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/newspapers/HOG19281128.2.58
Bibliographic details
Ngā taipitopito pukapuka
Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1928, Page 6
Word count
Tapeke kupu
341SUPREME COURT. Hokitika Guardian, 28 November 1928, Page 6
Using this item
Te whakamahi i tēnei tūemi
The Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd is the copyright owner for the Hokitika Guardian. You can reproduce in-copyright material from this newspaper for non-commercial use under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-ShareAlike 4.0 International licence (CC BY-NC-SA 4.0). This newspaper is not available for commercial use without the consent of the Greymouth Evening Star Co Ltd. For advice on reproduction of out-of-copyright material from this newspaper, please refer to the Copyright guide.
Log in