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| Tragic Left Turn: Hempenstall |
The tragically inattentive driver of a 32-tonne cement mixer lorry, who crushed to death an award-winning interior design student cyclist, was sentenced today.
Italian Giovanna Cappiello, 29, was just two weeks from graduating her foundation degree course at the University of the Arts, Chelsea when she died on July 4, 2019 in front of horrified witnesses from multiple injuries.
Construction company boss Stephen Hempenstall, 52, of Thornhill Road, Ickenham, Uxbridge fought the case for almost five years, but was convicted by a jury after a one-week trial of causing her death by careless driving.
The prosecution proved he failed to check his left wing mirror while turning at a junction as Miss Cappiello rode alongside the concrete mixer.
The tragedy occurred at 3.10pm at the junction of Silverthorne Road and Wandsworth Road, south-west London as Bologna-born Miss Cappiello rode her purple Carrera pedal bike.
Miss Cappiello, - known as ‘Gio’ - the first student on her course to achieve A+ grades in both theory and practice, was run over as the LGV Mercedes Arco cement lorry turned left at traffic lights.
A winner that year of the Chartered Society of Designers student award Miss Cappiello - the daughter of an Italian State Police Chief Inspector - also worked at the five-star Berkeley Hotel, Belgravia and was dating fellow-Italian Daniel Caseri.
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| Killed: Giovanna Cappiello |
Today, prosecutor Mr Hamish Common told Inner London Crown Court: “There was fifty seconds Mr Hempenstall did not look to the left, let alone his left mirror.
“There was no response to the side warning system, which was going off when Ms Capiello was in range.”
Her father Antonio Capiello’s victim impact statement was read by Judge Benedict Kelleher and the prosecutor added: “That conveys the impact of his daughter’s death.”
Hempenstall received nine months imprisonment, suspended for eighteen months and was disqualified from driving for the minimum of twelve months.
He was also ordered to complete 80 hours community service work and pay £2,400 costs.
Judge Kelleher told Hempenstall, dressed smartly in a blue suit, white shirt and blue tie: “No sentence that I can impose on you will compensate the Capiello family for their loss.
“Unseen by you, but cycling up on your left side was this tragic victim, Miss Capiello, aged twenty-nine.
“As you turned left her bicycle was caught under the wheels of your vehicle and she was dragged under it and tragically killed.
“You stopped and waited for the emergency services to come.
“You knew that you were driving a vehicle equipped with cameras and numerous recording devices and the evidence of those cameras were used in the trial.
“They revealed that you had, in the most part, completed a normal left turn manoeuvre and the vehicle reached a maximum speed of 11mph.
“You were concerned also with looking to the right to ensure you did not collide with other traffic and that there was sufficient space to turn.
“What you did not do was look in your nearside mirror in the period Miss Capiello would have visible for three or four seconds.
“In fact, you had not looked in the mirror for a considerable time.”
The judge said it was not proved one way or the other if the lorry’s internal warning system had sounded an alarm that Miss Capiello was close by.
“The effect of your carelessness was wholly tragic for Miss Capiello and her family and I have reads the moving victim impact statement of her father and he and the family are still effected.
“The manoeuvre you committed in turning left without looking in your mirror was an unsafe one.
“There are also aggravating factors in that Miss Capiello was a vulnerable road user, being on a bicycle and you were driving a HGV and clearly those driving these vehicles have an extra responsibility of care to avoid collisions like this.
“The fact Miss Capiello cycled on your near side after you put on the left indicator and the vehicle was also sounding an alert was a contributing factor in this collision.
“I have read the references and many people hold you to be a good, kind, considerate man. You have been a driver for four decades and had a very good reputation in the field.”
Hempenstall’s lawyer Tim Pole told the court: “This could be described as manoeuvre that was momentarily unsafe or a momentary lapse. That is the failure in this case.
“The act of the cyclist undertaking also played a significant role.”
Hempenstall is the boss of a two-lorry £59,000 a year business, but has not been allowed to drive since the guilty verdict.
“Returning to drive at the conclusion of the disqualification is not automatic. He will have to demonstrate to the Traffic Commissioner he is fit capable.”
During the trial Mr Common told the jury: “The prosecution case is that Miss Capiello was there to be seen, however Mr Hempenstall did not look properly and use the visual aids, for example mirrors and lens, available to him before turning.
“The prosecution say he was careless, was driving distracted and did not make the proper checks.
“He was earlier driving in a clearly distracted state and Mr Hempenstall did not look left at all in the run up to that left turn and did not respond to his side scan warning system.”
Mr Common said: “The lorry arrived a the traffic lights first and stopped and Miss Capiello cycled past the nearside of other stationary traffic until the lights turned green.
“As the lorry moved away Miss Capiello caught and began to pass the lorry on its left. As Miss Capiello drew alongside the cab area of the lorry Mr Hempenstall turned left across her and runs her over.
“The lorry was in the middle of a steep turn left at the point of the collision when Miss Capiello and her bicycle went under the front of the lorry.”
A London Air Ambulance arrived at 3.22pm, but tragically Miss Capiello had suffered a serious straight-line injury across her chest and abdomen.
A post mortem gave the cause of death as multiple injuries.
Horrified witnesses saw the tragedy unfold at the busy junction and van delivery driver Martin Butcher told police: “The cyclist was about half way along the lorry when it began to turn and the lorry collided with the cyclist.”
Motorist Elizabeth de Rougemont said: “I could see the accident was going to happen.”
Matthew Claridge said he was first alerted to shouts of “stop.” “I could see the lady under the wheels of the moving lorry. She was tumbling in the wheels and then the second one went over her.”
He approached and heard no music from her EarPod. “Her bike was lying behind her in the road and it was completely destroyed.”
Motorist Scott Martin recalled: “Unfortunately I saw everything from start to finish. “I was like: ’No, no, no,’ as the truck started creeping in and the cyclist is trying to get away.
“It comes around and she clips it just a bit back from the cab and I am screaming at the f***ing driver: ‘F***ing stop, stop, stop.’
“He is doing the manoeuvre at walking pace, but she never came into the zone where he could see her. This is all at 5mph, maybe 2mph.
“She looked at me as she went under the thing. I saw it drive over her,” added thew witness, who said he did hear music coming from the cyclist’s EarPod.
Hempenstall had just left the Battersea Concrete Plant in Silverthorne Road after reloading with ready mix concrete and his cab’s own CCTV shows him preoccupied with some paperwork in the moments before the tragedy.
“Mr Hempenstall was holding some paper in his right hand whilst he was driving. A short time after the start of the journey he unfolded the paper and seems to have been reading it while he was driving along,” explained the prosecutor.
“He then folded the sheet of paper, but continued to hold it in his right hand and on several occasions shuffled it from his right to left hand and back again.
“His mouth was also moving and it appears as if he was talking or singing.
“While driving he was holding a piece of paper in his right-hand side and steering and at one point put his seatbelt on.
“Mr Hempenstall folded the piece of paper and was holding it in his left hand and he waved at another driver.”
At the traffic lights the defendant indicated left, triggering a speaker on Ms Cappiello’s side, announcing: “Caution. This truck is turning left,” accompanied by white noise to cut through the surrounding noise.
“Mr Hempenstall contends that he did check and that his driving was not careless. Further, the side scan system would have activated, given Miss Capiello’s position in respect of the lorry, which would have alerted Mr Hempenstall to her presence.
Hempenstall has instructed his own collision consultant, David Loat, who has worked alongside the Metropolitan Police’s Serious Collision Investigation Unit and will give evidence during the trial.
The court heard Hempenstall’s ‘London Concrete’ lorry was fitted with CCTV and the side scan system and exhibited various warning signs to the side and rear.
The Brigade Electronics side scan proximity sensor system alerts the driver to any road users dangerously close to the inside of the lorry and four such sensors were fitted to the vehicle.
After the collision the sensor system passed safety checks and the prosecution case is that Hempenstall should have heard and acted on the audible warning.
After the collision fully licensed and insured Hempenstall pulled over. “In brief he said he did not see Miss Cappiello,” added Mr Common.
He spoke to an officer at the scene and said: “I don’t know where the cyclist I hit came from. I did not see her in my mirrors.”
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