Driver accused of killing young woman outside takeaway was doing less than 10mph
A car that hit a 22-year-old woman outside an Oswestry takeaway was travelling at just 10mph when it struck her, an expert witness has told a court.
Rebecca Steer of Llanymynech, Wales, was hit and killed outside the Grill Out takeaway in the town centre shortly before 3am. A second pedestrian, Kyle Roberts, was seriously injured.
Stephen McHugh, 28, of Artillery Road, Park Hall, has admitted killing Miss Steer and hitting Mr Roberts with his gold Volvo in Willow Street, Oswestry, in the early hours of October 9 last year, but he has denied murder.
He has been accused of using his car "as a weapon" to deliberately plough into a crowd outside the takeaway following an earlier altercation.
On the sixth day of his murder trial at Stafford Crown Court, the jury heard on Wednesday that McHugh's gold Volvo was travelling at below 10mph when it struck Miss Steer.
Michael Prime, a consultant former police forensic road collision investigator, compiled a 29-page expert report to the defence team, and suggested that Miss Steer had been involved in a "low speed impact" with the Volvo.
Giving evidence before Mr Justice Andrew Baker, Mr Prime told the judge that his calculations were based on tyre marks identified by the police and CCTV footage.
He said: "At the point of impact, it was probably less than 10mph."
He added that the car was on the pavement for less than 3.5 seconds, and had shown signs damage consistent with a "low speed impact".
He continued: "This being a low speed impact, or relatively low speed, the effect on a pedestrian is not to throw the passenger forward.
"Normally when there is a 20-30mph collision, a pedestrian is launched into the air, but this doesn't happen in a low speed impact.
"Depending on the pedestrian's height, they either get pushed over or fall the the ground or fall onto the bonnet and slide off it, which is when there is a risk they can fall under the wheels."
He also told the jury that his analysis of CCTV footage suggested that McHugh had steered away from the pavement back towards the road as soon as his front wheels mounted the kerb outside the takeaway, seconds before hitting Miss Steer.
He said: "As soon as the car mounted the kerb, the car was steered right otherwise it would have hit the side of the building."
McHugh, who has admitted taking cocaine, cannabis and being "drunk" on the night he ploughed into a group of young people outside the Oswestry takeaway, has admitted manslaughter and actual bodily harm, but denies murder and grievous bodily harm.
The trial continues.
