Viorel Sandulache, pictured left outside Maidstone Crown Court yesterday, has been charged with causing death by dangerous driving
A lorry driver was watching a television programme on his mobile phone moments before he killed a 21-year-old woman when he crashed into the car she was driving, a court has heard.
College student Abigail Harvey, 21, suffered fatal injuries when her Audi A1 was struck by the Iveco Stralus truck driven by Viorel Sandulache on the QEII Bridge linking Essex with Kent.
The crash happened in the early hours of November 3, 2017.
She was airlifted to hospital in London but died three days later.
Sandulache, 26, is on trial at Maidstone Crown Court accused of causing death by dangerous driving of Abigail, from Basildon, Essex.
He denies the charge but the jury has been told he does admit the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.
The crash took place in November 2017.
Opening the case for the prosecution, Nina Ellen, said Sandulache, from Grays, in Essex, who had an interpreter in court, was driving for UK Mail when the crash happened.
She said before the crash and while the lorry was moving two Google searches were made on the phone of the defendant.
She told the court: ‘The first search was for series one of a particular Romanian television programme.
‘The second search was for series two.’
College student Abigail Harvey, 21, (pictured) suffered fatal injuries when her Audi A1 was struck by the Iveco Stralus truck driven by Viorel Sandulache on the QEII Bridge linking Essex with Kent.
She said ‘distinctive music could be heard playing in the background’.
He was driving towards Dartford from Birmingham when the incident happened.
She said when the police investigated the crash they looked at footage from the lorry cab which showed the moments before the crash.
Ms Ellen said the investigation concluded that Sandulache ‘would have been playing that television show on his phone at the time of the collision’.
She said there were images which the jury may think showed the defendant gazing down and also show him appear to be laughing and smiling before the crash.
She added: ‘There was clearly inadequate distance between the car and the lorry and insufficient time to stop.’
The court heard the defendant had his visual attention away from the road downwards for an ‘extended period’.
Ms Ellen added: ‘The Crown say he was watching (the television show) at the time of this incident.’
She also said: ‘There was no hope at that point to stop in time and avoid a collision.’
She said his actions were ‘inevitably dangerous’.
Ms Ellen told the court the defendant had a ‘cavalier attitude to road safety’ and also said he had a conviction for speeding.
When addressing the fact he had pleaded guilty to careless driving, she said he accepted his driving ‘fell short’ of the required standard.
But, she added: ‘The Crown say the driving was much worse than that and fell far below.’
No drugs or alcohol were found in the system of Sandulache when he was tested by police.
When interviewed by police he did not answer all the questions put to him, the court heard.
Ms Ellen said: ‘He provided no specific account for the collision.’
She said both vehicles were travelling in lane one when the crash happened and the Audi appeared to have been driving slower.
A harrowing 999 call made in the aftermath of the crash was played to the jury today.
After the crash in the slow lane of the Dartford Crossing bridge Sandulache called 999 before passing it to another driver Tony Lightfoot.
In the recordingt, Mr Lightfoot said: ‘She’s out cold.
‘She’s starting to jolt, she’s having a seizure.’
Her laboured breathing could then be heard on the recording but the upsetting audio forced members of Ms Harvey’s family to leave the courtroom in tears.
The operator then asked Mr Lightfoot to check on her breathing and he replied Ms Harvey had begun to foam at the mouth and he could not see any visible injuries
When asked how her breathing was Mr Lightfoot said: ‘Her chest is going up…down, up, down, up down, up down.’
Jurors heard he then stayed with Ms Harvey until paramedics arrived and began treatment.
The court earlier heard Ms Harvey from Basildon in Essex was airlifted to hospital following the crash in the early hours of November 3, 2017, but died three days later.
Romanian Sandulache, from Grays, Essex, has denied his dangerous driving had killed Ms Harvey but has admitted the lesser charge of causing death by careless driving.
The maximum jail term for causing death by careless driving is five years, compared to 14 years for causing death by dangerous driving.
The trial, which is expected to last a week, continues.
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