The Assizes
| Published date | 01 October 1944 |
| Date | 01 October 1944 |
| DOI | http://doi.org/10.1177/002201834400800402 |
| Subject Matter | Article |
The Assizes
MANSLAUGHTER--DEGREE OF NEGLIGENCE
R. v. Sainsbury
THE
trial
of
Arthur
Pomroy
Sainsbury, which occupied
three
days
at
the
Old Bailey in September last,
proved
to
be
an
excellent example of
the
application of
modern
principles of law
to
the
question of culpable
negligence in cases of
motor
manslaughter.
The
accused
was indicted for unlawfully killing
Gunner
Thomas
James
Jackson
on
the
9th
May, 1944.
Counsel for
the
prosecution opened his case
by
saying
that
on
the
date
in question,
just
as
it
was
getting
dusk,
three
gunners were walking on
the
pavement
at
Broad-
bridge
Heath
from
the
direction of
Horsham
towards
Guildford.
They
were Pounder,
Jackson
and
Sparrow,
and
Jackson
was in
the
middle of
the
trio. Pounder, on
the
outside,
heard
a
car
coming behind
them
and
turned
to
"thumb"
a lift.
He
saw a
car
approaching
at
a
very
fast
speed
and
apparently
making
straight
for
them.
He
jumped
behind Jackson,
the
car
mounted
the
pavement,
hit
Jackson
and
threw
him some six feet
into
agateway,
lurched
back
into
the
road, passed
to
its
near side, regained
the
middle of
the
road
and
went
on
without
stopping.
It
was 10.25 p.m.
and
still light.
The
car, which was a
sports
model,
had
swung
right
across
the
road
to
its' off
side
and
mounted
the
pavement
at
a
spot
where
the
road
took
rather
a
sharp
curve
in
the
opposite direction.
Jackson
sustained afractured skull
and
other
injuries,
and
was
dead
by
the
time
he
had
been
taken
to
hospital.
Apolice constable
named
Bateman
saw
the
accused's
car,
an
M.G. which he knew, pass him
about
half a mile
from
the
scene of
the
accident.
Bateman,
continuing on
his way, reached
the
scene a
little
later
and
there
he found
some packing such as is used on
motor
door handles.
264
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