NEGLIGENT DRIVING

Wairarapa Times-Age, 16 October 1940, Page 2

NEGLIGENT DRIVING

ACCIDENT AT TAITA CHARGE AGAINST TAUERU RESIDENT. ACCUSED FOUND GUILTY. (By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON, This Day. The hearing of the charge of being intoxicated in charge of a motorvehicle and negligent driving causing bodily injury against Robert Andrew Stow, hotelkeeper, of Taueru, Wairarapa, was continued in the Supreme Court, Wellington, yesterday. Accused was also charged that at Taita on May 12 last he ornitte'd to keep a proper lookout, and failed to steer clear of Leonard King. A second count that he negligently drove a motor-truck and caused bodily injury to Leonard King was also preferred. The case was heard by Mr Justice Ostler and a jury of 12. Mr C. H. Weston, K.C., with him Mr W. R. Birks, conducted the case for the Crown, and Mr O. C. Mazengarb appeared for prisoner. Constable A. W. Nalder said that when he reached the scene of the accident, at 11.50 a.m., he saw Leonard I King lying near the gate of the Riverside golf links. He appeared to be suffering from severe head injuries, and was unconscious. A doctor was present and attended to him, and he was taken to the hospital. He noticed slight signs of liquor on prisoner, who was somewhat unsteady’on his feet. Witness drove prisoner’s motor-truck to the police station at Lower Hutt, where prisoner was examined by Dr. Rix. In witness’s opinion prisoner was unfit to drive a motor-truck through intoxication. After the doctor’s examination, witness charged prisoner with being intoxicated while in charge of a motor-vehicle. Cross-examined by Mr Mazengarb, witness said it would not have surprised him if the doctor had given prisoner a clean sheet at the police station.

J Traffic Inspector J. P. Warren said l he was on duty on the Hutt Road on the day of the accident. Witness noticed that prisoner staggered slightly as , he walked from his motor-truck. His . breath smelt of what witness took to [ be beer, and witness put him through certain tests. His eyes were glazed, and , his speech thick. Dr. H. G. Rix said he examined pri- . soner at the Lower Hutt police station ; on May 12, and considered that he was not then fit to drive a motor-vehicle ’ because of being intoxicated by alcohol. Prisoner admitted having taken two bottles of beer at 7.30 that morning on an empty stomach. Dr. S. D. Rhind, called for the defence, said that he had examined prisoner on May 12 and again the next day, and found that he was suffering from emotional strain. Inability to stand on one foot might be due to psychological causes. Shock would cause incc-ordination of movement. David Smith Hood said that accused arrived at his place at Mornington on the morning of May 12, bringing in his motor-truck some boxes of kindling wood. Accused brought two bottles of beer with him, and witness and accused drank the beer a little after 8 o’clock. Stow did not show any signs of intoxication when he left Wellington. In evidence, Stow said he was 46 years of age. For the past 10 years he had been farming and hotelkeeping. At present he was licensee of the Taueru Hotel. On May 12 he took a load of whisky boxes to his brother-in-law’s place at Mornington, Wellington. He took two bottles of beer with him, and he arid his brother-in-law drank ihe

■ beer about 8 o’clock. Oh the way back i to Taueru, near the Riverside golf . links, while passing two men, Mrs Hood, who was a passenger, called out, “You’ve hit something.” Witness pulled up the truck, and went back and saw a man lying on the ground. The man was receiving attention, and witness went back to his truck. He was very much upset, as he had never had an accident in the 20 years he had been driving. He admitted at the time to the traffic inspector that he had had some, liquor that day. When making the intoxication test, Dr. Rex said, “Being an hotelkeeper, you should be able to drink a good deal of liquor.” Witness replied that that did not follow, as he never drank while in his hotel. He suffered badly from varicose veins, and found it difficult to stand on one leg, as he had been asked to do. His Honour, summing up, said that the jury had to hold the scales of justice fairly. They not only had to see that accused was not convicted unjustly, but they had a duty to the community to see that driving a motor vehicle while in a state of intoxication was punished as it deserved to be. According to the statistics up to May, 1939, 300 people, almost one a day for the year, had been killed in motor-car accidents in New Zealand, and 2500 injured. Juries could help to keep down this butcher’s bill if they convicted in ' cases where the evidence was clear. I The jury retired at 4.55 p.m., and returned at 8.36 p.m. with a verdict of not guilty on the intoxication charge, but guilty on the second charge of neglij gently driving so as to cause bodily in- 1 jury to Leonard King. His Honour said he would defer sentencing accused till tomorrow morning, as he wished to receive the probation officer’s report.