Charlotte Griffiths (arriving at the Old Bailey today) where she denies one count of causing death by careless driving
A lawyer knocked down and killed a 91-year-old great grandfather on a zebra crossing as she drove to work in the rain, a court heard today.
Charlotte Griffiths, 26, sent Basant Lal Sharma ‘flying into the air’ when she crashed into him in her blue Ford Fiesta on Wanstead High Street in east London.
The Old Bailey heard father-of-five Mr Sharma had taken three steps across a zebra crossing when Griffiths hit him just after 8.52am on May 31 last year.
Mr Sharma suffered a traumatic brain injury and was declared dead just hours later.
Griffiths, then 24, stopped at the scene and told police officers she had ‘no idea’ how the accident happened.
The court heard the zebra crossing is partially obscured by a tree, but prosecutors claim Griffiths was not watching the road properly.
Mr Sharma had moved to the area after retiring as a small businessman.
His family said he had enjoyed walking a mile and a half up the high street and through the park twice a day until he died.
Mr Sharma had 16 grandchildren and seven great grandchildren.
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay said: ‘On 31 May 2016, in poor weather conditions, Charlotte Griffiths turned into Wanstead High Street.
‘She struck Mr Sharma as he was crossing the High Street on a zebra crossing, killing him.
‘If Miss Griffiths had been looking or looking properly she would and could have seen him and brake in good time. She didn’t.’
Father-of-five Basant Lal Sharma, 91, suffered fatal brain injuries and died on May 31 last year
Jurors heard Griffiths was driving between 10-15mph in the 30mph zone at the time of the crash and was not under the influence of drugs or alcohol.
When police asked her how the crash happened at the scene, she said: ‘I have no idea.
‘I just came round the corner in second gear and he must have just stepped out, there was no one there when I came out of the junction, he must have been behind the trees.’
Griffiths obtained her driving licence in June 2014 and there were no mechanical problems with her car, jurors were told.
The court heard she was ‘very familiar with the route as it is part of her daily commute’, though she was usually driven to work by a family member.
Jurors were shown a police reconstruction of the route in court.
There is a tree on the corner of the junction of Grove Park and Wanstead High Street which partially blocks the view of the pedestrian crossing, but a witness said Mr Sharma was ‘fully visible’ to drivers approaching it.
Collision investigator Clive Austin said: ‘Miss Griffiths drove south at a low speed but for an unknown reason failed to see Mr Sharma who was on the crossing ahead of her, in plain view, and consequently struck him as he crossed.’
Griffiths, from Upminster in Essex, denies one count of causing death by careless driving.
The trial continues.
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