A driver accused of killing a man and seriously injuring the man's nine-year-old son in a head-on collision on the A483 told a court he lost control after driving "on mud," the prosecution said Thursday.
Prosecutors allege Abubakr Yusaf, 30, an optometrist from Manchester, was racing his brother when his BMW left its lane and struck a Toyota Yaris driven by 41-year-old Rhys Jenkins. Jenkins, a rugby referee from Powys, died at the scene and his son Ioan, 9, was airlifted to Alder Hey Children's Hospital with serious injuries. The crash occurred on Nov. 16.
At Mold Crown Court, prosecuting barrister John Philpotts said a witness reported the brothers were driving at roughly 70 mph and that the BMW driver appeared "too desperate" to overtake a van before the collision caused what the prosecutor described as "catastrophic damage." The court heard the two vehicles had reached a straight stretch of road when the BMW began to fishtail, moving from side to side, before a passenger-side wheel went onto the verge and the car swerved into the oncoming lane.
Philpotts told the jury that both drivers were effectively encouraging one another to drive dangerously and that their conduct amounted to racing and tailgating other traffic. "The manner in which that BMW and Audi were being driven by the defendants meant they were effectively a car crash waiting to happen," he said. "They were driving aggressively and dangerously. Each effectively encouraged the other to drive in the same way. In effect they were racing and both responsible for the fatal collision, even though only one of the vehicles was physically directly involved."
Yusaf and his brother, Umar Yusaf, 34, who is also from Manchester and who prosecutors say was driving an Audi, deny causing death by dangerous driving. Umar Yusaf told the court there had been overtakes during the journey but that they were carried out "in a safe manner." He rejected witness descriptions that he had been driving like a "d***head," the court heard.
Witness evidence about speed, vehicle movements and the behaviour of the two drivers formed a central element of the prosecution's case on the opening day of the trial. Prosecutors say the defendants' driving led to the fatal collision; defence counsel disputes that their conduct amounted to the criminal standard of dangerous driving that caused Jenkins' death.
The trial is continuing at Mold Crown Court. No sentence or verdict has been returned.