DEATHS.
ERRIDGE. — On April 23rd, 1935, at Dunedin (result of an accident). Ronald Stuart, dearly beloved youngest son of Percival and Annie Erridge, Moray place west; aged 13 years. “So loved, so mourned.” — The Funeral will leave St. Paul’s Cathedral on Friday, the 26th inst., at 2 p.m., for the Anderson's Bay Cemetery. — Hope and Kinaston, undertakers. -Evening Star, 24/4/1935.
MOTORIST CHARGED.
SEQUEL TO FATALITY.
(Per Press Association). DUNEDIN, This Day. As a result of the death of the boy cyclist, Ronald Stuart Erridge, who was knocked down, by a motor-car in the city last Saturday week, Edward Richard Quin, the driver of the car, who was arrested at the time on a charge of having been intoxicated, was further charged this morning with having caused the death of Enidge. He was remanded. -Ashburton Guardian, 29/4/1935.
MANSLAUGHTER CHARGE
SEQUEL TO STUART STREET ACCIDENT
INQUEST PROCEEDINGS OPENED
As the sequel to an accident in Stuart street in April, when a boy was fatally injured, Edward Richard Quin faced two charges in the Police Court this morning before Mr J. H. Bartholomew, S.M. The charges were of negligently driving a motor vehicle, thereby causing the death of Ronald Stuart Erridge, and, while in a state of intoxication, being in charge of a motor vehicle and by an act or omission in relation thereto causing a death. The inquest was held concurrently with the proceedings. The accused was represented by Mr C. J. L. White, and during the inquest Mr A. G. appeared on behalf of the relatives of the deceased.
Francis Stoddart Little, a registered surveyor, said that on April 26, 1935, he accompanied Detective Gibson to the vicinity of Lower Stuart street and the Octagon, where an accident was stated to have taken place on April 20, 1935. There was there pointed out to him a route alleged to have been taken by a motorist concerned in the accident, and also a spot where it was stated the motor car had come to rest. On the date of his inspection there was a mark visible on the footpath in the Octagon in front of the Oban Hotel, and there was an impression in the asphalt on the footpath near the telegraph post on the south side of Stuart street, near where it was stated the car had crashed into the wall. Witness produced a certified plan which he had prepared of the locality. The marks referred to were shown on the plan. In front of the Oban Hotel, from kerbing to kerbing in the Octagon, the width was 46ft 2in, and in front of the Unique Drapery Stores was the same width. The width of Stuart street as shown on the plan was, from kerbing to kerbing, 46ft 5in. From the traffic dome in Stuart street to the kerbing on the hotel side of the street was 23ft 3in. The distance from the manhole cover in the street was 6ft 5in from the kerbing on the hotel side. The mark referred to was visible on the footpath in front of the hotel, and in the Octagon was 16ft 6in long, and this mark at its widest point from the kerbing in the Octagon was 3ft 7in. The distance from a point in the middle of the roadway in the Octagon, and about opposite the carriers’ telephone box on the eastern side to where the car was alleged to have hit the pavement was 140 ft.
POLICE EVIDENCE.
Constable Macdonald Brown, the police photographer, said, that on April 25, 1935, he took photographs in the vicinity of Lower Stuart street and the Octagon. These photographs were produced in court.
To Mr White: The motor cycle had been removed from the scene when the photographs were taken. There were marks on the post on one photograph, these indicating that the car had gone round the western side of the post.
Constable Marshall said that he had seen the accused in the watchhouse prior to his medical examination. He seemed to be under the influence of liquor as he was very excited, waving his arms about and talking very rapidly. Witness then proceeded to describe the scene of the accident, from which the accused’s car had been removed before witness’s arrival. Measurements of tyre marks on the roadway and footpath were detailed by witness, who submitted a plan of the alleged course of the accused’s car, and explained that there had been no tyre burns to indicate that brakes had been applied before the car smashed into the doorway of the Unique Stores. A pool of blood had been visible on the footpath, while adhering to a foot bracket on a motor cycle that had been standing nearby, and obviously had been damaged, were a little skin and hair.
To Mr White: There was nothing to indicate what course the car had taken beyond the measurements that had been taken. There was nothing to indicate where the boy had been struck. When seen by witness accused had appeared to be upset about the accident. Witness had not been told off to observe the accused, but when he had heard of the accident witness had taken particular notice.
MEDICAL WITNESSES.
Dr A. G. Cumming, senior house surgeon at the Public Hospital, gave evidence as to the admission of the boy Erridge to the hospital after the accident. He was unconscious and deeply shocked, while he had severe injuries to his head, bruises on his left leg, and abrasions on his left hand and elbow. The injuries were consistent with his head having been crushed under the footrest of a motor cycle. An operation had been performed and a blood transfusion given, but the boy had died three days after admission, the cause of death, in witness’s opinion, being laceration of the brain, the result of extensive fracturing of the skull.
“NOT FIT TO DRIVE.”
Dr Evans said that on April 20, at 5.45 p.m., at the central police station, he medically examined Quin. When Quin entered the room where the examination took place he was staggering in his gait, and his breath smelt of alcohol. His body swayed, his eyes were closed, and there was a tremor in both hands. His memory was confused of the events of the afternoon up to the time witness examined him. One moment he said he worked all day, and shortly afterwards he said he worked all morning. He then said he took his children to the vaudeville, and later said he had engaged seats for them, but did not take them. He said he was working at 2 p.m., and then went home, taking some butter with him. On witness asking him what time he arrived home at St. Kilda, he said: “I’ll leave that to you.” Witness suggested 20 minutes, and Quin agreed that that was the time it would take. He said it was a quarter to 3 when he left home to go to the factory, where he left at 3 p.m., travelling by way of Hanover and George streets, and turning down into the Octagon, where he met with the accident. There was a gap in his memory from the time he stated he left the factory at 3 p.m. and the time witness examined him at 5.55 p.m. When he was then asked several times what the time was he said it was getting on for 5 o’clock, although witness asked him on three occasions to look at his wristlet watch, which was showing the correct time at five minutes to 6. He could only account for the accident by saying: “When I swerved he swerved.” Witness advised him to get an independent doctor to examine him on his own behalf, but he said that witness would do for him, and at the same time he grabbed witness’s arm, although the doctor tried to explain and make him understand that the police had called him in. The opinion that witness formed was that Quin was suffering from alcoholism and that his judgment was impaired. In the condition he was seen in he was not fit to drive a car.
Cross-examined, Dr Evans said that he had formed the opinion that the accused was under the influence of alcohol from the odour of his breath, also from the fact that he had a marked tremor in both hands, from his gait, and from the fact that his time intervals were not accurate. He was smoking a cigarette and quite calm when witness had seen him, though it was witness's opinion that he might be an excitable man. Only once during the examination did accused become emotional, and that was when he described the accident. He was able to write his name fairly well. He did not maintain to witness that he was drunk, and his lapse of memory regarding his activities up to the time of the accident was another important symptom of his alcoholism. Assuming that an excitable man had had a severe shock he would be upset, but he would be able to account for what he had been doing at certain times. There had been no shock in the case of the accused, his pulse being more rapid than normal,
“COMFORTABLY DRUNK.”
Dr Harty, who was stated to have been called by the accused, described his examination of the accused on the evening of April 20 in the cell in the watchhouse. The usual tests had revealed that he was “comfortably” drunk, and if in that condition he had driven a car, it was witness’s opinion that he would have been a danger to himself and to the general public. Accused had not been suffering from any other form of sickness.
To Mr White: Accused, who was very excited, wanted to talk of the accident all the time. He staggered about the cell, and when witness had told him that witness thought he was drunk he seemed to he surprised. He would not be capable of transacting business.
To Detective-sergeant Doyle: Accused could not have transacted business because he was in a state of exhilaration; there was no restraint about his judgment. “He was willing to agree to any suggestion; in fact, if I had asked him to come along to the pie cart and have a pie with me he would have gone readily.”
FATHER’S EVIDENCE.
Percival Janies David Erridge, father of the deceased, said the boy was 13 years of age at the time of his death. Shortly after 5 p.m. on April 20 last the boy was detailed by his mother to go to a fish shop in Lower Stuart street for chips for his tea. He was given a 2s piece to make the purchase, and he went to the basement to get his bicycle. It was approximately 5.20 p.m. when he left home. He always enjoyed good health, his hearing and eyesight were good, and he was in the habit of going messages on his bicycle, which was fitted with a back-pedalling brake, and was in first-class running order. From information he received later in the day witness went to the corner of Stuart street and the Octagon, where an accident had occurred, and from there to the Dunedin Hospital, where he ascertained his son was the victim of the accident. He identified the bicycle produced in court as the one his son rode.
To Mr White: His son had been riding for two or three years.
EYE-WITNESSES' ACCOUNTS.
John Johnson Simpson said that at 5.30 p.m. on April 20 he saw a motor car swerve across the Octagon from the express stand to the Oban Hotel, where it bounced over the footpath and across Stuart street, striking the rear wheel of a bicycle, whose rider had just turned from the Octagon into Stuart street. The bicycle and the boy who had been riding it skidded right across the road, and struck a motor cycle, which was leaning against a post at the corner of the Octagon and Stuart street. The motor car continued right across Stuart street, where it struck the front wheel of the motor cycle, mounted the kerb, and crashed into the doorway of a shop on the corner. The car appeared to have pushed the bicycle and its rider across the road, and the driver of the car appeared to be lying with his chest over the steering wheel; he did not appear to be driving right. The boy had been riding slowly and on his correct side of the road, turning into Stuart street about 6ft out from the kerb. Another revolution of his pedals would have carried him beyond danger. The motor car was proceeding slowly into Stuart street, but when it had mounted the footpath its speed appeared to have been increased. The speed was not reduced until the car crashed into the shop doorway. There had been no attempt to avoid the cyclist, no sound being given from the horn. The driver bad had a clear view ahead, as there was no other traffic about. When the car came to rest the driver got out, and approached witness, who was assisting to lift the boy from under the motor cycle. He appeared to be dazed. Witness identified the accused as the driver of the car.
To Mr White: Witness did not think accused was drunk.
Douglas Peter Kennedy, a medical student from Christchurch, gave evidence along the lines of the previous witness, and added that after he had rung for the ambulance he came back to the scene, and witnessed a number of men accompanying the accused to a constable. He considered that the accused’s car was travelling at a reasonably slow speed when it mounted the footpath, but he would not say that the speed of the car was increased as it proceeded across Stuart street.
Alec Donald Inglis said that when he saw the accused after the accident he was undoubtedly intoxicated, and not in a fit state to be in charge of a motor car. Some time later witness saw two men holding the accused, who was very excited, and trying to get away from them.
In reply to Mr White, witness said that he would not say that accused was very drunk. He formed his conclusions that he was under the influence of liquor by reason of his gesticulations, but the latter may have been due to accused’s excitement. Further examined, witness said that accused appeared to be trying to get away from two men when the constable took him in charge.
Joseph Anderson, a radio mechanic, said that when he first observed the car it was mounting the footpath near the Unique Stores and it finished up against the door of the stores. He could not say where the actual impact took place.
Arthur B. Rooney, a painter, of Roxburgh, said when he saw the accused he appeared to be the worse of liquor, and, in his opinion, was not in a fit state to drive a motor car. He saw two men holding the accused, who was trying to get away. He heard accused say: “I am going over for a booze.”
To Mr White: The cyclist did not passs him; at least he did not see him. He saw the accused was excited and he formed the opinion that he was intoxicated. There was no other indication that the accused was under the influence of liquor. (Proceeding.) -Evening Star, 29/5/1935.
The Coroner's verdict was that Ronald died of injuries received in the accident and that the accident was caused by Edward Richard Quin.
INTOXICATED MOTORIST
SENT TO GAOL.
DUNEDIN, Saturday. Edward Richard Quin, found guilty of being in a state of intoxication while in charge of a motor car and causing the death of Ronald Stuart Erridge, was sentenced by Mr Justice Kennedy to 21 months’ imprisonment with hard labour, and was prohibited from driving for ten years.— (P.A.) -Wairarapa Daily Times, 29/7/1935.
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