Allan Alexander Cameron

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Court appearance - Allan Alexander Cameron (Tom) & Reuben Cameron - 1941

Daily Advertiser (Wagga Wagga, NSW 1911 - 1954), Thu 4 Sept 1941, Page 4

Transcription:
Negligent Driving Charge
SEQUEL TO ACCIDENT
LEETON, Wednesday.

A sequel to an accident at the gates of the Yanco Agricultural High school on the night of June 29, was the appearance before Mr. C. Denton, P.M., at the Leeton Police Court today of Thomas Cameron, charged with negligent driving. Defendant was represented by Mr. Dalton (Messrs. Cater and Dalton).
Constable Ritchie stated that after the accident he proceeded to the spot and saw a baby Austin car in the channel. The lights were on and there was a lot of blood on one of the seats. He traced the tracks of the car back for a hundred yards and noticed that the wire on the fence on the right-hand side of the road had been broken.
Constable Naish said that as the result of a telephone message he went to the hospital at Leeton about 7.30p.m. oh June 29 and then to Cameron's residence at 21 Wade-avenue North. He asked defendant the cause of the accident and he replied that his lights were very bad. He told defendant that his brother, who had been in the car with him was in hospital and in a pretty bad way, and was about to be operated on. He then asked defendant to accompany him to the police station. At the police station defendant stated that during the afternoon he had two drinks of stout at the Whitton Hotel and then returned by the river road towards Yanco. Witness told him he would report the matter as he considered he had driven negligently.

RIBS BROKEN
To Mr. Dalton, Constable Naish said that when he went to Cameron's home the latter seemed to be suffering from shock. There was also blood under one eye. under the chin, and on the front of his shirt. He remembered Cameron asking him to take particulars of the accident at the house instead of at the police station. He did not know that Cameron had hot water ready to bathe his wounds. He was at the police station about half an hour but no charge was made against him there, and it could have been about July 14 that a charge was made. He knew that defendant spent some weeks in hospital subsequently with broken ribs. He had made no inquiries when he visited the house first as to whether Cameron was in a fit condition to go to the police station with him. He did not think it would have been wiser to take the particulars at the house. He could have brought another police officer there for the purpose. He knew the accident had been serious. He did not think It would have been more considerate towards Cameron to have taken the particulars at the house.
Reuben Cameron, a brother of defendant, called by the police to give evidence, said he accompanied his brother on the day of the accident. There was also a passenger named Smith in the car. With his brother he had two small glasses of stout at Whitton. Just before the accident the lights began to fail. The car eased up to about eight or ten miles on hour and after that he remembered no more. At this stage Mr. Dalton submitted there was no case to answer. Mr. Denton, P.M., said the very facts that the lights were bad was some evidence of negligence. According to regulations, if the lights were bad the car should not have been driven. He considered there was a prima facie case.
Thomas Cameron, in evidence, stated that just before the accident his lights became bad but he kept going in the hope of getting to Yanco, where he could have them adjusted. He noticed a post on his left-hand side and thought it was the right-hand post and that he was in the middle of the road. The car then ran into the channel. Witness went to hospital and then to his home. He then accompanied Constable Naish to the police station. He had spent seven days in hospital and was a month off work. It cost him £15 to have the car repaired. He had been driving about 18 months and this was his first accident. Before the accident he slowed down to about eight miles an hour. Mr. Denton said that, having regard to all the circumstances, he would impose a light line of £1, with 12/ costs.