A mini-cab driver was speeding at up to 50 mph when his car struck a drunken pedestrian - crossing a notorious accident blackspot after downing up to a dozen pints of Guinness - a jury were told yesterday.
Syed-Ajamal Syedzadah, 29, (pictured) of Clarence Road, Croydon had just exited the Wellesley Road underpass after midnight when his vehicle hit Manchester man James Worthe.
The pedestrian tragically suffered fractures to his ribs, spine, skull and face, causing brain trauma and a collapsed lung.
Syedzadah has pleaded not guilty at Croydon Crown Court to causing the death of Mr. Worthe on January 23, last year by driving without due care and attention.
Prosecutor Mr. Philip Rule told the court Syedzadah, who had been driving a mini-cab for over a year, was travelling to the Jury's Inn hotel at 12.30am to collect a fare.
Mr. Worthe, who was working in London, had been watching football with a friend in a pub half a mile away from the tragedy.
The pair were seen walking and singing in the street afterwards and Mr. Worthe, whose blood alcohol level was equivalent to three times the drink-drive limit, decided to cross the road alone.
"He crossed the road where he should not have been," explained Mr. Rule. "It was the head of Mr. Worthe that struck the windscreen and his body struck the bonnet and the roof."
A police accident investigator estimated Syedzadeh's speed at the time of impact as between 40mph-50mph.
When quizzed the defendant told police he tried to brake to avoid the collision on the road, which has a 30mph limit.
Trial continues………….
2 comments:
Whilst Mr Worthe may have been inebriated and he should not have crossed where he did we have all done it. At the end of the day speeding is speeding and this poor man's devastated family should be well and truly supported by the legal system. The Police investigators in this country are second to none and their estimation on the speed with which the defendant was driving should be paramount in this case. The defendant states he was doing 30 mph, but the investigators state he was doing between 44-48 mph on a 30 mph road. The fatal injuries Mr Worthe sustained were also consistent with a high speed impact which Senior Consultants at St George's Hospital also confirmed. Whilst there are no winners in this situation as Mr Syedzadeh will have to live with the consequences of his careless driving for the rest of his life Mr Worthe's family, ie, his dad, his wife, his sons, his sisters and his large extended family and group of will have to live without a much loved and respected gentleman, who obviously lived and worked very hard for his family, which he loved so much. SPEED KILLS especially when it is over 50% of what it should be!
PS It doesn't matter either about the fact that Mr Worthe was 3 times the drink drive limit or how much he had drank as different people can handle different volumes of alcohol and at the end of the day as it was not Mr Worthe that was driving it was Mr Syedzadeh, who was a speeding motorist, who actions caused a fatally. Mr Worthe maynot have crossed where he did if he hadn't been drinking, but I and many others live in Croydon and see other people crossing at the same point ALL THE TIME! Here's hoping the legal system take notice of the Police & Medical experts.
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