DEATH OF LITTLE GIRL ON HAMBLEDON HILL ROAD.

EVIDENCE AT INQUEST  

Evidence was given in the Coroner’s Court yesterday, before Mr. E. L. Moore ( Acting S.M. ), at the inquest into the manner and cause of the death of Nancy Page, aged six years, who died on the Hambledon Hill road on October 12, 1944, as the result of injuries received in an accident there.

Mr. H. F. McLaughlin appeared for William John Allen Phillips, driver of the truck which was involved in the collision with deceased’s bicycle.

“I have found that persons with a disability of the eyes of which they are conscious are usually more careful than a driver with good vision, who is liable to take risks.” said Noel MacDonald Fergusson, optometrist, when questioned, in the course of his evidence, on Phillips’ fitness to drive a vehicle. He said that on November 6, 1944, he last examined the lens of Phillips’ spectacles which were designed to improve his eyesight, since he was afflicted with pigmentation of the retina, which impaired his keenness of vision.

Cross-examined by Sergeant ( First Class ) Nugent, witness stated that Phillips’ vision of vehicles approaching on one side of him would be “patchy.’

William John Allen Phillips, general carrier and air-grade mechanic, said he was a married man and had been living at Edmonton for many years. About 8.45 on the morning of Thursday, October 12, he was on his fourth trip from the Hambledon Mill. “I passed the State School and turned to my right up Marr’s road,” he said. “I noticed several children on the road – (Mill road) just before the crossing, and I passed several children before I negotiated Marr’s road.   When I turned into the straight of Marr’s road my front wheels were already on the railway crossing, as I heard a sharp metallic bang.” Witness added that the   noise was so sharp that he stopped instantly.

“I heard an exclamation from a child on the other side of the road and got out to see what was wrong,” continued witness. “Then I noticed a little child lying just in front of my rear wheel on the left side.” Witness said he asked someone to call the school-master and   ring for the ambulance. He picked up the child and carried her to the school-master.

“He said she was dead and that her neck was broken,” said witness referring to the statement by an Army doctor, who   had examined the child on the scene of the accident.

Witness declared that he passed the school at about 10 miles an hour, and was driving at five miles an hour as he turned into Marr’s road. The reason for the collision, he thought, was that the small girl had not sufficient control over her bicycle, which ran into the wheels of his truck.

The next witness, Constable Roy Leslie Hielscher, said that he went to the scene of the accident as soon as word of it was received at the Police Station about 9.10 a.m. “I saw the body of a small girl lying on the left hand side of the road, covered with a blanket,” he said. “I made an examination and noticed she was bleeding from the mouth, that there was blood on the back of her head and a deep cut across her left arm above the elbow. She appeared to me to be dead.” Witness said he questioned Phillips who said, “I was turning from Hambledon road into Marr’s road, when I heard a loud bang. I had my foot on the brakes, as I had to slow down to take   the curve. I’ve been round that corner hundreds of times, but I cannot take it unless I am doing about five miles an hour. I stopped immediately, jumped out of the truck and ran round and saw the girl lying with her head jammed by the left-hand rear dual wheels on the railway line. I got back into the truck and backed a bit, then jumped out and ran round and picked the girl up.”

THE ACCIDENT

Nancy Page, witness knew, left home about 8.36 o’clock in the morning and, as he learned from an eye-witness, was riding behind two boy neighbours, with her brother behind her, as they were passing the railway line. The two lads had crossed it, when a truck approached from the opposite direction on the road and was coming toward the junction of Marr road, as deceased was crossing the junction of the roads, truck turned into Marr’s road and in doing so struck her bicycle, pushing it along for a short distance. Deceased apparently fell between the front wheels as the truck passed over her, said witness. It stopped with its off-side wheels just pinning her head to the railway line. Phillips apparently did not see her until he heard the bang and stopped his truck. Witness was of the opinion that had Phillips’ eye-sight been normal he would not have seen the child. She was only six years old and could not have the same judgment and control over her bicycle as an adult.

COMPETENT DAYLIGHT DRIVER

Constable Edward Dewhurst, of Edmonton,  who stated he had known the deceased, corroborated the evidence given by Hielscher, and added that on December 1, he accompanied Phillips on a drive for several miles up the Gillies Highway. He found he handled his vehicle carefully and efficiently. When they returned to the Police Station that day, Phillips said he was willing to undergo any driving test providing it was conducted in daylight as he could not see so well at night. Witness then told of an accident several years ago which impaired Phillips’ sight so that he could scarcely see at night.

Sergeant (First Class) C. J. Nugent submitted authorised statements taken as evidence from the father and mother of deceased, who had gone to live in Sydney after the accident. The statements were accepted and Mr. Moore declared the inquest closed.

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