Manchester hairdresser ‘ran over and killed great-grandmother’

Hairdresser Tina Singh, pictured, 39, denies causing the death of great-grandmother Sheila McGinty by careless driving

A hairdresser killed a great grandmother with ‘early signs of dementia’ in a car crash while she was crossing the road after not seeing her ‘until the last minute’, a court heard today.

Tina Singh, 39, hit Sheila McGinty, 79, with her Peugeot 107 in Heywood, Greater Manchester, while on her way to work.

Minshull Street Crown Court in Manchester heard Ms McGinty was stood in chevron markings in the middle of the road after already crossing halfway.

Ms Singh, who was pregnant at the time, later told police that it was ‘too late to stop’ by the time she saw the pensioner, who had been at a hair appoitnment.

Ms McGinty was rushed to hospital but died as a result of her injuries.

Ms Singh denies causing death by careless driving. 

Prosecuting, Robert Wyn Jones said Ms McGinty’s health was beginning to fail but that she was still able to live independently.

She had early signs of dementia and her vision was starting to deteriorate, the court heard.

On the morning of the incident, on June 22 last year, visibility was good and the weather was dry, prosecutors said.

An eyewitness who saw Ms McGinty cross the road said she ‘appeared to be completely unaware that a car was approaching her’.

Moments later she was hit, and members of the public came to her aid.

The jury was shown CCTV footage of the crash, which was described by ‘harrowing’ by Judge Paul Lawton.

Police found no mechanical defaults with the car.

Ms Singh was not found to be under the influence of drink or drugs, and prosecutors say it was not a deliberate act.

She was not speeding at the time, with her estimated speed being at 28mph in a 30mph zone.

Ms Singh told police she hadn’t noticed Ms McGinty until the ‘last moment’ and ‘when it was too late to stop’.

Prosecutors said Ms Singh’s view of the road would have initially been obscured by parked cars on the left hand side of the road.

Ms McGinty was hit in Bury New Road, pictured, Heywood, while in the middle of the street

Ms McGinty was hit in Bury New Road, pictured, Heywood, while in the middle of the street

They said that if Ms Singh would have started braking as soon as she saw Ms McGinty then a crash would still have been ‘inevitable’, but that she would have been hit at a speed of 8mph rather than 28mph.

Opening the case for the prosecution, Mr Wyn Jones said: ‘What we say is that the defendant failed to react appropriately to the hazard that was Sheila in the road directly in front of her on this clear piece of road on a sunny and clear day.’

Prosecutors also say that Ms Singh was driving on chevron markings in the middle of the road, which should only be used in an emergency.

If she had been driving in the normal carriageway, she would not have hit Ms McGinty, prosecutors claim.

Ms Singh, of King Street, Heywood, Greater Manchester, denies the charge.

The trial continues.  

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