Lindsay Gordon DAFTER

CAPSIZES OF TWO CARS: CHARGES FAIL

Charges of negligent driving against two motorists whose cars had overturned, were dismissed by Mr. A. S. McDonald, S.M., in the Deepwater Court of Petty Sessions.

They are Alfred George Schott, electro-painter, of Hurstville South, and Ronald John Stream, salesman’s operator, of Tenterfield.

Both pleaded not guilty.

Stream: was represented by Mr. J. Turner ( Stewart and- Cook, Tenterfield ).

In Schott’s case, Constable Lindsay Gordon Dafter, of Deepwater police, stated that at about 11.50 a.m. on December 27, Schott was driving a Riley sedan north along the New England Highway. About one and a half miles south of Tenterfield, said Constable Dafter, Schott passed through a set of railway gates, skidded in loose gravel, and overturned. Schott had said he was travelling at about 30 m.p.h. when the accident occurred. I

n evidence, Schott said he passed slowly through the railway gates and was about to change into third gear when the car skidded and overturned. ” The car hit white stones on the roadway, which had been previously scattered, and rolled over, ” he added.

Mr. McDonald held that negligence had not been proved, and dismissed the charge.

Avoided Lorry In Stream’s case,

Constable Norman Lindsay Jones said that at about 9.10 pm. on December 17, Stream was driving a Vanguard sedan on the Deepwater -Emmaville Road. At about; three Miles west of Deepwater, said Constable Jones, Stream’s car skidded on a bend in the road and overturned. Stream had stated that he saw a lorry approaching, swung his car to the left, drove into loose gravel on the side of the road and overturned.

In evidence, Stream; said he was travelling at about 35 miles per hour when he saw the lorry approaching. As he veered to the left, the car started to sway in the loose gravel and overturned.

Mr. McDonald said Stream may have been driving a bit too fast, but he could not hold he drove negligently. He dismissed the charge.

Holiday Trip Tragedy BOY DEAD, FOUR HURT IN SMASH

Holiday Trip Tragedy

A two-year-old boy died in the Glen Innes District Hospital this morning from injuries he received in a car accident yesterday.

Four other members of his family were injured in the accident.

His baby sister was reported ” very ill ” this afternoon.

The dead boy was Warren Dafter, son of Constable and Mrs. Gordon Dafter, of Deepwater.

He received a laceration to the scalp, an injury to the forehead and a probable injury to the lung and was admitted to the hospital in a critical condition.

List of Injuries Others injured were:

Gordon Dafter (27), shock and a possible fracture of the ribs and spine. Condition this afternoon described as satisfactory.

Dafter’s wife, Valerie (26). severe ulcerations to the face and left leg and thigh. Condition unavailable.

Their baby daughter Denise ( five months ), concussion and shock. Described as ” very ill “.

Their son Terence (7), concussion and shock, condition satisfactory.

Mist, Dust

The accident happened on the New England Highway two and a half miles south of Deepwater about 6.35 a.m. yesterday.

The Dafters were on their way to spend a holiday with Mrs. Dafter’s people at The Entrance.

In mist and thick dust, their English sedan car ran into the back of a semi-trailer travelling in the same direction with a load of car springs.

Police said today that Dafter had overtaken one semi-trailer safely.

Vision Obscured

The dust from the road, which is being made ready for black-topping by the DMR, had apparently combined with mist to obscure Dafter‘s vision and the car had run into the back of the second semi.

The driver of the semi, Lancelot Leslie Hepper, of Hargrave Park, Sydney, escaped unhurt.

A nearby resident contacted Deepwater Police.

X-Rays

Glen Innes ambulance took the five injured people to Glen Innes District Hospital.

Doctors today were x-raying Const, and Mrs. Dafter and Terence and Denise.

An inquest into Warren Dafter’s death will be conducted on a date to be fixed.

Death of Second Victim of Road Smash

A five-months-old girl who was injured in a car accident near Deepwater on Sunday, died in the Glen Innes District Hospital this morning.

She was Denise Dafter daughter of Constable and Mrs. Gordon Dafter, of Deepwater. She died at 3.30 a.m.

Constable Dafter and his wife and a son, Terence, are in a satisfactory condition, but two-year-old Warren Dafter died in the District Hospital on Monday morning.

Warren‘s funeral took place yesterday afternoon. The cortege, which moved from the Catholic church, Glen Innes, to the Glen Innes cemetery, was led by traffic constables D. J. Mogan and S. J. Manuel, of Glen Innes police, riding motor cycles.

DISTRICT SECTION

No Negligence in Fatal Accident : Dafter Inquest

There was no indication of negligence on the part of either driver concerned in a fatal accident between a car and a semi-trailer on the New England Highway on March 21, Det. Sergt. F. W. Collings said in Glen Innes Coroner’s Court yesterday.

Sergt. Collings was giving evidence at an inquest into the deaths of Warren John Dafter (2) and Denise Joy Dafter (five months), who died from Injuries received to the accident.

‘ The Deputy-Coroner (Mr. A. R. Mitchell ) adjourned the inquest to next Thursday, June 3. He did this because the driver of the semi-trailer involved in the accident ( Lancelot Leslie HEPPER ) Could not attend the Court yesterday owing to illness.

Sergt. Collins said that about 5pm on March 21, in company with Senior Constable Ralph Dudley MASTERS, of the Police Scientific Bureau, Tamworth, he went to Guyra and interviewed Hepper. ” He informed me he was the driver of the semi-trailer involved in the accident, which occurred about two and a half miles south of Deepwater early that morning, ” Sergt. Collings said.

” Const. Masters made an inspection of the semi-trailer and took photographs and measurements. ” We inspected the scene of the accident the next morning.

DUSTY

” I drove the Police utility over the Section of road at bout 30 miles an hour, and, although it had rained two hours previously, the dust disturbed by the vehicle would be sufficient to obstruct the view of a driver travelling at the rear.

” We inspected the car at Jackson’s garage in Deepwater. It was badly damaged in the front portion.

” From examining the semi-trailer and the car, I formed the opinion that the car, driven by Const. Lindsay Gordon Dafter, had run under the rear of the semi-trailer for such a distance that it had hit the axle of the trailer, which would be five feet from the trailer’s extreme outside edge.

” Sergt. Collings said he interviewed Dafter in the District Hospital, and Dafter had told him ; ” I was driving along the highway. There was a mist and I had the windscreen wipers going. I had just got over the incline when a cloud of dust hit my windscreen.

” I put my foot on the brake so I could pull up and clean the windscreen, and as I did so my wife called out : ‘Look out for the truck.’ ” The next thing I remember was waking up in the hospital.

30-35 M.P.H.

“I was doing about 30 to 35 miles an hour along the road when the accident occurred.

” Sergt. Collings said he had interviewed Mrs. Valerie Dafter, who had also been in hospital, and she had agreed that the speed would be no more than 30 or 35 miles an hour.

” Mrs. Dafter, was very badly injured and is still receiving medical attention in Sydney, ” Sergt. Collings said.

“Owing to her condition, she was unable to attend this Court to-day.”

Sergt. Collings said that from his inquiries, he was of the opinion that the accident had been caused by a sudden cloud of dust adhering to the wet windscreen of Dafter‘s car, and by the fact that the semi-trailer had reduced speed considerably because of a mechanical defect.

“I am satisfied that Dafter took every precaution and, in fact, was applying his brakes when the accident occurred.

” In my opinion there was no negligence on the part of either driver,” Sergt. Collings said.

D.M.R. Work

In reply to a question by Mr. H. L. Liston (appearing to watch Dafter‘s interests) Sergt. Collings said the Main Roads Department had been preparing the road for sealing at the point where the accident happened. ” They had put light gravel on the section and the surface was soft,” he said.

Robert Samuel Irwin, medical practitioner, said he attended both the fatally-injured children in the Glen Innes District Hospital.

” Warren had severe lacerations to the scalp, a fractured skull, injuries due to a punctured wound of the lung, concussion and shock,” he said.

He did not regain consciousness and died about 5am the day after the accident.

Denise had shock and concussion. Her general condition at first was fairly good, but she became much worse on the afternoon of March 22.

Haemorrhage

” I performed an operation which indicated a haemorrhage to the brain. She died early on the morning of March 24 from brain injury and haemorrhage.”

Senior-Constable Masters said he had been engaged in the investigation of serious and fatal accidents during the past 11 years.

He said the surface of the road at the point of the accident had a fine screening of dust at the time.

” I formed the conclusion that the accident occurred on the vehicles’ correct side of the road,” he said.

” The truck is of nine tons 13 cwt weight unladen and was laden with 11 tons of springs, making a total weight of 21 tons. The vehicle was in a roadworthy condition.”

Const. Masters told Mr. Liston the accident had damaged the rear lights of the semi-trailer.

Senior Constable N. L. Jones ( Deepwater ) gave evidence that he had driven with Dafter on a number of occasions and Dafter was ” a careful and capable driver.”

No Liquor

” There was no sign of liquor on Dafter or Hepper after the accident,” he said.

Sergt. Collings at this stage told Mr. Mitchell that Hepper was ill in Sydney and was therefore unable to attend the Court.

Dafter, giving, evidence, said that on the day of the accident he had left home in his car with his wife and family about 6 am.

” Between Deepwater and the railway crossing, I overtook one semi-trailer,” he said. ‘ Going up the hill on the other side of the crossing the atmosphere was misty and foggy and I had the wiper working. ” It was all right until the dust got on it and then it blurred over. I decided to stop and clean the windscreen. ” I had taken my foot off the accelerator and put it on brake pedal. The dust was thick for about 20 yards then seemed to clear suddenly.

Braked Hard

” I would not like to say how far I was from the truck when I first saw it. ” I put my foot hard on the brake and I don’t know what happened after that.”

Dafter said he had his head lights on going up the hill but they were of no advantage.

Mr. Mitchell adjourned the hearing to June 3.

Sergt. Collings said that later evidence would show the semi-trailer had decreased its speed from about 30 miles an hour to about one mile an hour just prior to the accident.

DAFTER INQUEST: NO ONE TO BLAME, SAYS CORNER

No one was to blame for an accident which fatally injured two children on the New England Highway on March 21, the Deputy-Coroner ( Mr. A. R. Mitchell ) said yesterday.

Mr. Mitchell was enquiring into the deaths of Warren John Dafter (2) and Denise Joy Dafter (5 months) of Deepwater.

He found they had died as a result of injuries received when a car in which they were travelling collided with a semi-trailer near Deepwater.

The inquest had been adjourned from June 3.

ONLY WITNESS

At yesterday’s hearing Lancelot Leslie Hepper, motor driver, of Hargrave Park, Sydney, was the only witness. He said he had been the driver of the semi-trailer involved in the accident. Hepper said he had had nine years’ experience in driving heavy vehicles. ” On the morning of the accident, I left the top of Bolivia about 5.30; driving a Mack diesel semi-railer, loaded with springs, in a southerly direction, ” he said. ” I drove through Deepwater and across the railway gates, and about 30 or 40 feet over the rise of a hill the motor started to cut out, with air in the fuel line.

DECREASED SPEED

” This caused the vehicle to decrease its speed from about 30 miles an hour to nearly a standstill. ” The vehicle is fitted with an automatic bleeder for the fuel-line and tank. ” As the motor was starting to pick up again, and as the truck was travelling about one or two miles an hour, I felt an impact at the back of the vehicle. ” At the time of the impact I was travelling with the near-side of the vehicle about two feet out from the pegs on the left-hand side of the road. ” Immediately I felt the bump, I pulled up, went around to the rear of the vehicle and saw the car. ” I ran back to see a man called Mervyn Edward Mazlin, who was driving a semi behind me, and said to him ‘ Hurry and get the Police. I’ll get an ambulance.’

ALREADY INFORMED

” I ran over to a house to phone the ambulance, but when the occupant rang the exchange, she informed me that the Police and ambulance had already been notified. ” As I was returning to the vehicles, the ambulance arrived and conveyed the injured to hospital. ” Hepper said that at the time of the accident, the road was ” exceptionally dusty. ” There had also been a misty fog. He said he had driven from Brisbane to Bolivia the previous day, and had had a good night’s rest.

To Mr. P. M. Abbott ( appearing to watch his interests ) Hepper said the vehicle was in perfect condition. ” It is only two years old and cost £9,000, so it is well maintained, ” he said.

“UNFORTUNATE SERIES OF EVENTS“

To Mr. H. L. Liston ( appearing to watch the interests of Constable Lindsay Gordon Dafter, father of the dead children and driver of the car ), Hepper said air got into the fuel line every trip, after the fuel supply was switched from one tank to another. He said he had given a ” Stop ” signal about 20 yards back from the point of impact.

Mr. Mitchell said he was quite satisfied that no one had been to blame for the accident. ” The tragedy was caused by an unfortunate series of events, ” he said.