BAGBY’S PUNISHMENT.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLVIII, Issue 3713, 5 November 1927, Page 3

BAGBY’S PUNISHMENT.

LETTER TO PRESS BY HUS- ' ( BAND OF DECEASED. i MATERIAL EVIDENCE SUPPRESSED. Auckland, Last Night. In a letter to the Press, Mr. W. S. Short, 1.5.0., whose wife was the victim of the fatal accident iwhich resulted in Wi S. Bagby’s recent trial for manslaughter, writes as follows: — “The facts in this case are beyond doubt. On the evening of 26th September last my wife and grandson stepped off the footpath in Manukau road to board a tramear that was slowing down to pick them up. “As they did so Mr. Bagbv came up in his car, hoping, no doubt, to get past the car before it came to a full stop. At the very moment when the tramear stopped, Bagby’s car struck my wife and grandson, and by the impact canned her body some 60 feet along the road, thereby killing her and seriously injuring my grandson. Bagby then cleared out without stopping, iii an effort to escape detection. “W|as Bagby’s action in negligently driving and killing my wife lawful or unlawful? Had he any excuse? The jury, by its verdict, practically decided that he had no excuse, for it finally decided that he was guilty of negligent driving, thereby killing my wife. “The foreman of the jury told the Judge that the jury was of opinion that my wife should not have been on the road until the tramear had quite stopped. The Judge, in reply, said that made .no difference, but he did not tell the jury that, she had, under common law, just as much right to lie on the road for a lawful and necessary purpose as Bagby bad. “The fine of £IOO, and cancellation of Bagby’s license to drive a motorcar for two years, is farcical, seeing that many people drive without a license, and that if they are caught doing so (which is very, difficult) they are only fined from 10s to £l. “Again, the strongest witness availahle for the Crown was not called by the police—viz., a man who actually saw the accident, and who, I am informed, was prepared to state that Bagby travelled much faster than he or the other witnesses testified. It was from this man’s description of the motor-car that it w r as ultimately traced.”