MOTORIST’S TRIAL

Waikato Times, Volume 119, Issue 19897, 28 May 1936, Page 10

MOTORIST’S TRIAL

t V .a V l NEGLIGENCE ALLEGED. ! DEATH OF THREE PAS'SENGERS. I ' __._ l VERDICT OF GUILTY. __._ . ‘ Counsel's addresses and the sum.mins—up of Mr Justice Fair concluded the trial at the Supreme Court. llamiiitun, to—duy. of Leonard lica)~ Urogan. laged 24. who was charged with the inegiigent driving of a motor—truck at j\Vhaia\\hutu on March is, so as to Icausr the death of William Aikman. item-y Leslie Williams and William Uliver Lester Jarvis. The three deceased were passengers in accused's truck which collided with another lorry. driven by James Richard (lure, on the Karamu Road. .\lr ii. ’i‘. Gillies Conducted the case for the Crown and Mr W. J. King appeared for the accused who entered a plea of not guilty. A verdict of guilty was returned, with a strong recommendation to mercy and accused was remanded for sentence until to—morrow. Mr King said that in view of the very full nature of the statement made by the accused to the police he did not propose to call any further evidence. The prisoner had admitted being on his incorrect side but the claim of the Crown that accused had not. kapt a proper look-out could be re—futed. On account. of his height. ‘Constabie G. Donnelly‘s estimate of the visibility did Lit apply to the priscner, who was a shorter man, and the evidence of the witness. Uooch, who was alongside Grogan, was to the effect. that the accused had immediately swerved to the left as soon as Gore's lorry became visible. '. ' _ ' Road 'ln Dangerous state. ‘ In explanation or the accused‘s be—ing on the incorrect side of the road, Mr King submitted that the witnesses were agreed on the point that the road was rough and dangerous. Assuming that each vehicle had kept to the metal there would only be a single foot clearance between the trucks as they passed—~proot‘ that the road was narrow to the point of being dangerous. The position was accentuated by the tact that, approaching the point 0t impact the motorist. was required to swing to the right to avoid a scouring- ; out which had occurred on the road. it was not in any way suggested. however, that Gore was responsible for} the accident. } .\lr Gillies stated that the charge; was that the accused had travelled to . such an extent on his wrong side as to make the accident inevitable. it tlle general motoring public made a habit of cutting this corner, the trailic inspectors patrolling the district were‘ not doing their,duty. It was the ac—‘ cused‘s responsibility to maintain his vehicle on the correct side, which he admitted he had not done. There were, however. certain mitigating circumstances but they did not afl'ect the jury's consideration of the accused's plea and could only be taken into ae—count when determining punishment. He considered that no clearer case could have been made of the accused‘s guilt although the degree or negligence was small. Hll Honour’s RovlowHis Honour reviewed the evidence at, length and stated that a bad road-sur-lace was not an adequate excuse for a motorist travelling on his wrong side if the risk were increased. The fact. that other drivers were careless at the corner near the collision was not a relevant consideration in Grogan‘s trial. At the request of the foreman, the jury visited the. scene of the. accident this afternoon before retirement. YESTERDAY‘S PROCEEDINGS. A series of photographs relating to the vehicles and the scene of the ac—cident was produced by Constable V. C. Nayior. Evidence concerning the inJul‘ics and deaths of three deceased. Williams, Alkman and Jarvis, was given by Drs. J. Dori and R. J. H. .\‘lcCready. of the Waikato Hospital staff, and John Sco—bte. St. John Ambulance officer. How Aooldont Happened. ‘ James Richard Gore. farmer, of Te Pahu, said he was 21 years of age. iVVhen the accident happened he was ldriving his father‘s lorry towards his Ihome in a southerly direction. ltis ‘speed was about 23 miles per hour. l He saw Grogan's truck approaching on its incorrect side at. a faster speed ‘than he was driving. When he saw i an accident was imminent witness applied the brakes and went oi! the ‘road. Grogan's truck struck his ‘ vehicle on the right-hand side. At the Itima he. struck. the front right hand ‘whcel was in the water—table. l-lad Grogan pulled on his correct side. ‘when he first saw him there would ‘hnve been no accident. He was ac—‘customed to driving on the road and had never had trouble with the camber. 1 To Mr King. witness agreed that. a driver might have trouble in getting out of the trough on the incor- . rert side of the road. Unless the mo—ltorist remained on the camper his tvehicle would capsize. Gregan was perfectly honest with witness and ad—mitted throughout that he was on the ‘wrong side. After iii-st seeing Gro—‘gan‘s truck witness travelled about . lOvds. before applying his brakes. d‘homas \Villinm Gooch. of Frank—.mm who was a. passenger in Gro—gan’s van. said he was in the front ‘ seat. Grogan did all possible to avoid lths accident but the camber caused t the back of his truck to swing round into Gore's truck. \Vitness did not an- ‘ ticipate an accident. All traffic took the bond on the wrong side. John Irwin. another passenger in Grogan's vehicle. said be regarded Grogan as a careful drchr. The nor—mal course of traffic was the route taken by Oregon. Constable (‘.. Dnnneiiy produced a plan with measurements. Case for Defence. In opening for the defence. Mr Kim: said he rested his case on Gro— Kim's statement. which mtmittnd that ho was on the wrong side. but which anti-melt that he could not avoid being ’ in that position on account of the state .ol the road. . llcrbcrt Hay Hawkins. surveyor. cf 'llnmtltou. considered the corner it dangerous one owlng to the cambci‘. the slupt‘, thr uarrownrss of the. road mm partial scouring through water :irt‘mu. tic look a tally which showed that St) lil'l‘ run! of lllt‘ \'\‘lliclcs llll\‘ in}: the llt‘lltl would llilh‘ strut-1; a [vehicle routing: in tho opposite direc— Hun, till a sci-mm day he found that on per rout would have tukcn the lsumt- i‘ulli'SP. .\n.\' tli‘ih‘r caught. in l LContinued in previous column;

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