A lawyer accused of killing a 91-year-old great grandfather on a zebra crossing wept in court today as she told how she knelt by him in the road and said ‘I’m sorry.’
Charlotte Griffiths, 26, crashed into father-of-five Basant Lal Sharma as she drove her blue Ford Fiesta to work at a solicitor’s office in Wanstead, east London.
Giving evidence at the Old Bailey she insisted the zebra crossing on the high street was clear as she approached it at around 8.50am on 31 May 2016.
Charlotte Griffiths, 26, pictured, denied causing the death of Basant Lal Sharma, 91, by careless driving and told the Old Bailey the zebra crossing where she collided with him was ‘clear when she approached it’
She claimed she did not see Mr Sharma until she heard the impact and immediately braked.
Griffiths said: ‘If I had seen a man standing there I would have stopped. He wasn’t on the crossing.
‘He must have been coming from behind the tree, that’s the only explanation for it.’
Prosecutor Jonathan Polnay suggested that Mr Sharma could not have ‘magically leapt from behind the tree to the middle of the carriageway’ in the time it took her to reach the crossing.
Mr Polnay said: ‘You cannot have been paying proper attention.’
Griffiths replied: ‘I’m saying it was clear when I approached it.’
She added: ‘The first I knew was the bang.’
Mr Sharma hit his head on the ground and suffered fatal head injuries.
Griffiths told the jury: ‘I went into meltdown and panicking.
‘I didn’t know what was going on, he was lying on the floor and I was kneeling down next to him.’ I just kept saying “I’m sorry.”
‘The blood started coming from his nose and I just started screaming.’
Great-grandfather Mr Lal Sharma hit his head on the ground after the crash and sustained fatal injuries
Griffiths, then 24, told police officers at the scene she had ‘no idea’ how the accident happened.
When told Mr Sharma had died, she said: ‘Oh my God, I killed somebody’s dad.’
The court heard Griffiths got her driving licence at age 17 and has no previous convictions, cautions or penalty points.
The Old Bailey also heard Griffiths claimed to be driving between 10-15mph in the 30mph zone at the time of the crash and there is no suggestion she was going too fast.
Griffiths, of Ockendon Road, Upminster, Essex, denies one count of causing death by careless driving.
The trial continues.
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