Murder trial hears of row outside Oswestry takeaway just before driver mowed down 22-year-old woman
An Oswestry man who hit and killed a young woman outside a town centre takeaway with his car was trying to drive into a young man he had been arguing with, a court has heard.
Stephen McHugh, 28, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, has admitted the manslaughter of 22-year-old Rebecca Steer after she was hit by his gold Volvo in Willow Street, Oswestry in the early hours of October 9 last year, but he has denied murder.
Miss Steer, of Llanymynech, Wales, was struck by McHugh's car outside the Grill Out takeaway in the town centre shortly before 3am. A second pedestrian, Kyle Roberts, was seriously injured in the incident.
The court had previously been told how McHugh had used his "car as a weapon" to deliberately strike a group of young people outside the takeaway, killing "innocent bystander" Miss Steer.
On the third day of his trial for the murder of Miss Steer and the grievous bodily harm of Mr Roberts, the jury at Stafford Crown Court on Friday heard how McHugh had been arguing with a young man moments before his car mounted the pavement.
Katie Davies told the court she had been calling for a lift home in the doorway of the Grill Out takeaway when she saw the driver of the car pull up.
She said: "The driver started arguing with another male. I didn't see that male. I could see the driver, he had his window down.
"I remember being on the phone but I was concentrating on the driver because he looked angry. His facial expression was angry."
She told the court that the driver had said to the other man that he "would "f**king show you" moments before he put the car into reverse.
She said: "I thought he was going to get out of the car and hit the male he was arguing with. I took a step back at that point.
"But the car started reversing. He then pulled the car forwards to point it at the direction of the person he was arguing with and drove straight towards him."
Earlier, Mr Justice Andrew Baker had heard from Samuel Conde, who had also been outside Grill Out on the night Miss Steer died.
He had told the court he also heard an argument between the driver of the Volvo and somebody outside the takeaway.
"The argument escalated," he told the court. "I turned towards my friend who was also in the crowd, and then the next thing I know the car drove on to the kerb and into the group of people."
He said he saw the car hit three people, including a young woman.
"The car dragged her into the road under the front, driver's side tyre," he said.
Witness Thomas Purcell said that after the car sped down Willow Street following the incident, the woman was left lying in the road, having been dragged around 10-15 metres from the takeaway.
The trial continues.
