INTOXICATED MOTOR CAR DRIVER.

Manawatu Herald, Volume XLIX, Issue 3841, 6 September 1928, Page 3

INTOXICATED MOTOR CAR DRIVER.

PRIEST FINED £5. Auckland, Last Night. A Roman Catholic Priest, Father Joseph Duffy, aged 41, of Papakura, was fined £5 by the Magistrate, Mr. Hunt, in the police Court to-day for being intoxicated while in charge of a motor car in the city on Tuesday afternoon. In the opinion of the doctor, accused had had too much to drink. There were no serious features about the case. It appeared as though accused had had some trouble with his gears in trying to turn the car.

Counsel for accused, who pleaded guilty, referred to the difficulty of changing the gears of accused’s car. Accused had lunched in town and as he was suffering from influenza, had one drink after lunch. No doubt, in his weak state, it affected him. The Magistrate said nobody who was going to drive a car should have any liquor at all. There was always danger. In imposing the fine, the Magistrate added that the case was the least serious of the kind he had been called upon to deal with and thereupon he was imposing the lightest fine that had been inflicted by him for such an offence. Suppression of accused’s name was refused, the Magistrate saying he was not going to make any class distinction.