MOTOR FATALITY

Wairarapa Times-Age, 12 February 1941, Page 6

MOTOR FATALITY

TRAGEDY IN WELLINGTON NEGLIGENT DRIVING CHARGE. ACCUSED FOUND GUILTY. <By Telegraph—Press Association.) WELLINGTON. This Day. A jury of 12 in the Supreme* Court. Wellington, yesterday found Leonard Stewart, perambulator manufacturer. Petone. guilty of negligent driving in Cambridge Terrace, on November 8 last and causing the death of Albert 5 Edward Boyes. The jury found him not guilty on a second count of failing to stop after the accident, and, on account of the boisterous weather and the fact that accused was slightly under the influence of liquor on the night the accident occurred, the jury made a strong recommendation to mercy. Mr Justice Johnston remanded accused till 10.15 a.m. today for sehtence. SENTENCE ON STEWART FINE OF £2OO IMPOSED. PROHIBITED FROM DRIVING FOR TWO YEARS. WELLINGTON. This Day. A fine of .£2OO and prohibition from driving for two years were the penalties imposed by Mr Justice Johnston in the Supreme Court on Leonard Stewart a pram manufacturer of Petone. aged 48. who was found guilty of negligent driving and causing the death of Albert Edward Boyes, in Cambridge Terrace on November 8. The jury had strongly recommended Stewart to mercy, attributing the accident to a boisterous night and to the fact that Stewart was slightly under the influence of liquor. The Judge intimated that the fine was to include the costs of the prosecution. Had it not been for the jury's recommendation he would have found it extremely difficult not to impose a term of imprisonment. He thought the jury must have believed the evidence of Stewart's friends as to his character and that evidence was. in his view very convincing in many ways. The jury must also have considered that Stewart's condition on this occasion was not in tune with his known char-1 iicter and really perhaps was an accidental lapse.