HOROTIU FATALITY

Sun (Auckland), Volume II, Issue 605, 6 March 1929, Page 10

HOROTIU FATALITY

CAR DRIVER ACQUITTED

TOOK ALL PRECAUTIONS (From Our Own Correspondent) HAMILTON, Tuesday. The triple level crossing fatality at ITorotiu on January 1, when Mrs. Phyllis Anderson, Mrs. Alice Armstrong, and Miss Violet Howse were killed, was recalled in the Supreme Court today, when Alexander Armstrong, aged 41 years, was charged with negligently driving a car, causing the death of Mrs. Anderson. After evidence had been given, the jury, without leaving the box, found him guilty, and he was discharged. William Theodore Langbein, assistant engineer in the Railway Department, said a motorist approaching the line from the Great South Road, as Armstrong was, would not get much of a view of the line until the 68ft point was reached. Cross-examined, witness said there was a hedge and a fairly heavy growth of scrub on the south side of the road. Constable McGruer said he regarded the crossing as a dangerous one. A clerk of the court, John Ronald Wink, read accused’s depositions at the inquest, in which accused said that as he approached the crossing he asked the passengers in the car if the line was clear from the south. One of them replied that it was clear. He looked to the north, where there might have been traffic on the main line, and on a siding leading to the freezing works. Pie could see nothing on the line, and proceeded to cross. This concluded the case for the Crown. Accused gave evidence that he had always regarded the crossing as a dangerous one. There was a hedge which I had obscured the view to the south, but this had since been removed. Molly Armstrong, aged nine years, said her father asked, as the car approached the crossing, if the line was clear, and Mrs. Anderson replied that it was. Edward Frederick Allen Hutchinson, carrier, Horotiu, said he regarded the crossing as a very dangerous one, especially since the railway huts had been built near the road. He had been nearly caught on the crossing himself, and prior to the accident he had spoken to the railway ganger about the way the blackberries obscured a view of the line. Since the accident the blackberries had been cut. His Honour told the jury that in view of the precautions taken by accused to assure himself that the line was clear, it was difficult to see from the Crown’s case what other reasonable steps he could have taken. The case did not seem to be a strong one. Without leaving the box, the jury returned a verdict of not guilty, and the accused was discharged.