IN THE NEWS


SALFORD PH DRIVER WHO RAN OVER AND KILLED PENSIONER LYING INJURED IN STREET SPARED JAIL


A taxi driver who ran over and killed a pensioner, who was lying injured in the road, has walked free from court. Henry Vueza- Ngindu failed to


heed the


“frantic” warnings of members of the public who were tending to a stricken John Lee and ploughed into him. The the 76-year-old died “almost instantaneously” following the early hours accident. Liverpool Crown Court heard on 12 January, that a group of people was driving home along West- minster Road at around 1am on May 30 2021. As they approached a junction in Kirkdale, they spotted Mr Lee “lying in the road in the opposite carriageway” and stopped to help. Arthur Gibson, prosecuting, des- cribed how another car also pulled over in order to assist him. Mr Lee told the Good Samaritans that he had “had a few drinks and fallen”, but “complained of pain” when they tried to help him up. “Fearing that he had serious injuries which may make worse”, the passers-by decided not to move him and stood in the carriageway to block the traffic. But then they noticed Vueza- Ngindu’s Skoda Octavia which “did not appear to be slowing down” and was around “the length of a football pitch” away. One of the group began “frantically waving his arms” to attract the driver’s attention, but the vehicle continued and he had to “jump out of the way to avoid being knocked over”.


The witness added in a PHTM FEBRUARY 2024


statement: “I spun around and heard a thud, like two vehicles colliding.” Mr Lee was “dragged some distance up the road” by the “private hire vehicle” before it came to a stop. He was tended to by paramedics, but died “almost instantaneously” due to “massive crush injuries to his chest and abdomen”. Vueza-Ngindu, from Salford, passed roadside tests for drink and drugs. Experts concluded he had been travelling at 30-34mph shortly before the collision and had “braked immediately before or upon contact”. Under interview, the 53-year-old told detectives that “although he had seen the people around Mr Lee, he had not seen Mr Lee on the road before it was too late to avoid a collision”. Mr Gibson said: “The prosecution’s case is that, given the warnings by the members of the public and the fact that there were a number of people tending to


the


deceased, a reasonable driver would have at the very


least


slowed down to such a speed as to have been able to stop before colliding with the deceased as he lay on the road.” Nigel Beeson, defending, stated his client has lost his employment as a result of the incident and his wife, a nurse, was now the family’s “sole breadwinner”. He added: “He has cooperated


throughout and had the courage to plead guilty.” Vueza-Ngindu, who has no previous convictions and used a walking stick in court, admitted causing death by careless driving. He was handed nine months imprisonment suspended for a year, told to complete 100 hours of unpaid work and banned from driving for a year. Sentencing, Judge David Aubrey KC said: “This is a sad and tragic case. The victim was regrettably, heavily intoxicated. There, in the middle of the road, he met his death. It may well have been a scene, to some extent, of some confusion. You having not seen Mr Lee and not knowing what was going on drove over him. “You had not been speeding. You had not been drinking. You were at work and you had braked either immediately before or on contact. But it was far too late. “You simply had not heeded the warnings given by those mem- bers of the public. What you should have done was to slow down to avoid any hazard. “You are a man of hitherto impeccable previous good character. The court accepts that you are full of remorse. “You yourself, I have no doubt, have been traumatised by the incident. “You experience flashbacks, you have become isolated and you also have physical health issues. “It was more than a momentary lapse. There was a potential hazard, and you did not heed the warnings of others.”


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